Gone
by XoStarcicleoX
Summary: Hinata's been kidnapped by two strange men. Neji, Naruto, and some others are determined to get her back, before it's too late...
1. Wind Blowing

**Hi! This is my second FanFic, so I still need reviews.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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Chapter 1: Wind Blowing

Konoha Village at night was the only time when it was quiet, because during the day, a certain ninja made a lot of noise. Everybody was asleep, except for the Hokage, who was still up a trying to finish some late paperwork. Even her assistant Shizune, and her pig TonTon, were fast asleep on a chair near the Hokage desk. Tsunade wanted to wake her up so Shizune could have the same tired feeling as she had, but then she'd hear more of Shizune's complaints about not working on the paperwork earlier. She sighed as she continued to stamp the next document.

Outside, she heard the wind blowing. She didn't like the sound of that wind. It didn't sound normal.

Naruto was in his bed dreaming about eating ramen of all flavors. He was already drooling on his pillow. Near his window, the wind howled. Naruto frowned as he saw his ramen fly everywhere. He stirred in his sleep, moving to a different place on his pillow to drool on.

The Yamanaka Flower Shop was closed for the night, as it was for every night. The wind rushed by again, causing the flowers outside the shop to sway along with it.

The Hyuga Compound was also quiet. Everybody was fast asleep. Hiashi and Hanabi were gone on a mission, so it was just Hinata and Neji that night. The wind came and passed by Hinata's window, and when it cleared, there were two men standing outside (**A/N: I don't know if Hinata's room is in the bottom floor, but right now it'll be the bottom**). One was thin and tall, and the other was big and taller than the thin one. They walked up to her window and started opening it, but it was locked. The big one was tempted to break the window, and was already raising its hand, when the thin one stopped him.

"We don't want to disturb anyone," he whispered to his companion. His companion was disappointed but nodded.

The thin one made a some hand signs and the wind came, swirling around them. They disappeared, only to reappear again inside Hinata's room. The wind dispersed, but that made something on Hinata's drawer to fall on to the floor. There was a loud thud as it hit the wood. Hinata woke up with a start.

"Yeah, we're not disturbing anyone," the big one said "Just her."

Hinata, Byakugan activated, got out of her bed. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"Calm down, Hyuga Heiress," the thin one said. "We're just a dream, so why don't you go back to sleep?"

"Oh, nice one, Kiro," the big one said sarcastically. "We're just dreams."

"You got a better idea, Jug?" the thin one, Kiro, looked at his partner.

Hinata was a little confused. Two trespassers in her room and they were fighting each other; shouldn't they be fighting her?

The two men continued to argue, each getting louder.

"WHAT IS GOING ON?! I'M TRYING TO SLEEP!" Neji burst open the door. In Hinata's room, he found two tall guys looking at him, and Hinata with her Byakugan, and in her night gown, in a fighting stance.

"Now look what you've done, Jug!"

"Me?! You're the one who was screaming!"

"You're the one who keeps stomping his foot!"

"You're still yelling!"

"Forget this!" Kiro cried and went after Hinata. With the sudden change of mood, Hinata didn't have time to react.

But Neji did. With lightning speed, he grabbed Hinata out of the way. Kiro stopped just in time before crashing into the wall.

Neji, holding on to Hinata's wrist, ran out of her room and turned towards the door that led to the outside. Neji made the mistake of looking back and saw Jug making hand signs. When he finished, he pointed his hand towards the two Hyuga and black goo sprayed out of his hands. It landed on their feet, and Neji would have fallen into it if Hinata hadn't grabbed on to her cousin's waist. "What is this?" Hinata worriedly asked. They both had bare feet.

Kiro and Jug walked up to them. Jug put his hand out and shot another black blob over Hinata's mouth. Hinata was about to grab it off when Kiro took both her hands and quickly and expertly tied them.

"Stop that!" Neji cried, but found that Jug was wrapping him up with the black goo. He was helpless as the big one punched Hinata in the stomach and she fell, unconscious, into his hands. He picked her up out of the goo, making the black stuff seem like water, but when Neji tried to lift his feet, he felt that they were truly stuck to the floor. He struggled some more.

"I wouldn't do that," Kiro adviced. "He's just going to get tighter."

At first Neji thought, _He?_ until, to his horror, Kiro brought up some type of wind-like platform for him and his companion on the training ground that he and Hiashi practiced on and stepped on it. With Hinata over Jug's shoulder, the two men both flew away toward, from Neji's point of view, the left. Neji couldn't speak. How had he let this happen?

He screamed into the night sky, breaking the peace and quiet in Konoha.

"HINATAAAAAAAAAA!"

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**So there's my second FanFic. To tell you the truth, I really don't know what's going to happen. But I do know what's going to happen in the next chapter!**

**Please review!**

**By the way, Jug and Kiro's name came up to me while I was typing. I didn't have any names for them yet until Kiro popped up randomly followed by Jug.**


	2. Goo

**Second chapter! Don't ask me why I made the black goo like that. I just wanted to.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I do own... well actually, I have nothing of him that I own! T.T  
The reviews I just got boosted my confidence by a lot! THANK YOU!**

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Chapter 2: Goo

_I need to get out of this if I'm going to save Hinata!_ Neji thought as he fought to get out of the black goo. He activated his Byakugan, and he saw that the black goo was filled with chakra! _So, _he continued to think, _it's like that spider Kidomaru._

He gave his hand a thin layer of chakra (_Good thing he didn't cover my hands)_ and knelt down. He was about to cut the goo near his feet when it created a hole where his hand went. Neji's eyes widened. Did that goo just move? He tried again and it did the same thing. Suddenly, two eyes appeared where Neji had been trying to touch. "Aggh!" he stood up quickly. The eyes moved up and a mouth appeared below it. Neji wanted to cry out again, but the goo beat him to it.

"Aarrrgh!" it warbled. Then, the goo slipped off of Neji's feet. Neji couldn't believe it. Partly the part that he was free, but mostly the part with the goo being _alive!_ The goo that was around him also slipped away and went straight towards the goo that used to be at Neji's feet. It morphed to a sort of slug.

Neji examined himself, surprised to find that both his feet and clothes were clean. The only evidence that the goo was ever on him was a faint smell of gasoline. He looked at the goo, or _creature._ It looked back, but it didn't seem scared any more. Actually, it seemed curious. It tilted its head to one side and made another warble sound. "Prrrrlllll."

Neji couldn't help but stare at it, until he remembered Hinata. "Where's your master?" he demanded of the goo creature. The goo creature got scared, made another warble sound, and turned to the flat goo, making its eyes and mouth disappear. This was what it turned into when it got frightened.

Neji saw his mistake and tried again, but with a calmer voice. It didn't do anything. He went up to it to touch it, only to find himself stuck. He tried to pull his right hand out, but it wouldn't budge. He gave that hand the thin layer of chakra and soon the goo warbled/screamed again and jumped to the ceiling where it hung.

_I don't have time for this! I need to tell Lady Tsunade about this_! and with that Neji hurriedly changed into his Hyuga robes and ran out towards the Hokage tower.

* * *

Tsunade heard the scream.

Apparently, so did Shizune because she bolted up. Tonton woke up because she felt her master jump a little. "What was that?" Shizune sleepily asked.

"Neji just screamed 'Hinata,'" Tsunade answered, surprisingly calm.

"Why?"

"I have a feeling we're going to find out."

* * *

Naruto was sure he heard something. He was sitting up in bed because he thought he heard Neji (or was it Hinata?) scream.

He waited a bit longer to see if he would hear it again, but no other sound came. He looked out his window, and this time he thought he was still dreaming.

In the distance, he thought he saw two, no three (one was being carried) people floating, heading towards his left. He rubbed his eyes, and they were gone. He lay back down on his pillow.

_I knew I shouldn't have eaten that spicy flavored ramen tonight! And why is my pillow wet?_

* * *

"Lady Tsunade!" Neji burst into the room.

Tsunade was calmly sitting behind her desk. She had expected this. "Something wrong, Neji?" although she already knew that something was wrong. Even though she looked calm on the outside, she was starting to panic on the inside. Neji rarely lost his cool like this.

"Hinata... has been... kidnapped!" he managed to say between gasps of breath.

Shizune's eyebrows shot to the moon, while Tsunade's came together. This was worse than what she thought: Hinata being kidnapped while her father was away. The kidnappers must have been spying on them for a while.

"Explain," she demanded. And so Neji did, leaving the part about the black goo coming alive and replacing it with what he was thinking earlier: that the goo can be cut whith chakra.

Tsunade was listening to every word, while also thinking who'd be best for the job. Neji would definitely be the leader, and Shino and Kiba would be good in tracking their teammate. But these two enemies could be strong. Should she send more people, or wait until the team calls for more backup? She decided to wait until the team calls for backup. There's no point in putting six people on a team if the enemy turns out to be weak. "Right," Tsunade said after Neji finished his story," the mission to rescue Hinata will start tomorrow."

This surprised Neji and Shizune.

"But Lady Tsunade, don't you think the mission should start tonight? The kidnappers have already left and are traveling farther as we speak," Shizune argued.

"I know, but it's well past midnight and the people I picked have just finished a mission. They're tired," replied Tsunade. "You, too, Neji. You need all your strength if you're going to save Hinata."

Neji wanted to argue some more, but he saw the look of the Hokage and knew that if he said anymore he'd fall through the window. Neji bowed his head as a thank you and left the tower.

* * *

The goo creature heard the slide door of the Hyuga Compound open then close. Turning the corner was the teenager who hurt him earlier. However, even though he hurt the goo creature, the goo creature also hurt him, so he figured that it was fair enough for that young man to hurt him. Besides, he couldn't stay mad at him for a long time. He was starting to feel close to him...

Attached to him...

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**I made the goo creature alive!**

**Please review! I especially like the ones that tell me to improve on something. But don't give me the mean type of improvement.**

**Like for example: Your wording sucks; please improve on it.**

**Now that's just rude and hurtful! Not to mention vague!**


	3. Hinata's Escape

**This chapter was inspired by Rose Tiger, who said, "Hinata will never be easily kidnapped by a pair of idiots!"  
Thank you, Rose Tiger, and I hope you'll like this chapter!****  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and blah blah blah**

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Chapter 3: Hinata's Escape

Hinata's eyes slowly opened.

She couldn't remember where she was. And her stomach felt painful.

She remembered that punch. There was a big guy who punched her right in the stomach, making her dizzy with pain, but she couldn't scream. There was something covering her mouth. Oh yeah, it was this black goo thing. It was still over her mouth. She remembered two bony fingers wrapping rope tightly around her wrists. Too tight for her to do anything. She couldn't call for help.

However, she did remember Neji standing beside her. They were both stuck by the same black slime.

Now she remembered everything. She woke up in the middle of the night to find two really tall men standing in her room. She got ready in a battle stance, but then they started arguing. That was when Neji came in.

_Neji was helping me escape,_ she thought. _While I did nothing but get captured._

She wasn't going down like this. She looked around her (slowly so her captors wouldn't know she's awake) and saw that it was still night. The sky seemed closer than usual. She looked down.

They were way up in the air. Standing on... something. At first she got scared as she thought they were falling, but saw that the trees below her weren't getting any closer. They were just moving past her.

That's when she found out that she was being carried over one's shoulder, the big guy's shoulder. Her fear turned into anger. She can't get captured this easily!

Hinata raised her still tied hands in the air, with fists as tight as she can make it. Then as hard is she could, brought them down on the man's back. If she could smile under the black goo, she would have.

The man jolted as he felt a somewhat painful punch on his back. He lifted the Hyuga Heiress off his back and made her face him to see if she was the one who did it. Sure enough the heiress was wide awake with eyes full of anger, her white eyes were turning a slight shade of red.

"Hey Kiro," the big one said, "she's awake."

"Well then, put her back to sleep!" Kiro was angry at Jug for yelling at him earlier. The big doofus knew he was sensitive!

Jug was thinking of another way to put her to sleep without her waking up for a long time. He decided killing her was out of the question.

Hinata took this pausing moment to raise one of her foot back...and swing it full force between the big one's open legs.

Jug didn't say anything, but his eyes were bulging, his face was red, and the sound that was trying to escape was stuck in his throat. Suddenly, he dropped Hinata.

Hinata, panicking, closed her eyes, only to find herlself on something solid. Turns out the platform was solid, but invisible.

A piercing sound cut through the night. Jug screamed as loud as he could, letting all that sound that was stuck, out.

Kiro turned around to see a red-faced Jug and a Hyuga Heiress on the wind platform. Hinata felt Kiro's eyes on her, and without thinking...jumped. Right off the platform.

She didn't really jump, jump. She just kind of _dove_ off the platform.

Hinata felt the wind stinging her face. Her eyes were half closed, but she could see the dark outline of trees quickly coming. She wanted to slow down but she didn't know how. Finally she just decided for luck to play its situation. She closed her eyes and tried her best to cover her face with her arms. It turned out that luck wanted her to live, because Hinata felt a cushion of leaves. She opened her eyes and found herself softly bouncing on trampoline like brances piled with leaves. She didn't have time to thank Luck as she soon saw the two men recovering. They were already hovering lower, and fast too.

Still with her hands tied (**A/N: I keep referring back to this. I think it's because I want to remind myself she's tied**), she scrambled down the tree. She activated her Byakugan to look for a good spot to find. She found the perfect place. Two trees were standing next to each other with its swirling branches wrapping around each other. It was like a maze of branches; it would be hard for the big one to get through, but maybe the thin one could fit. Anyway, she didn't think about that now. She tried to get to those trees, where, with her Byakugan, she can see a little opening that the normal eye wouldn't see. Well, not at night when it's this dark. Hinata had a hard time because she kept on stepping on something hard with her bare feet that would make her wince.

At last she got to the trees with the twisty brances. She looked at the wall of thick twigs...and went to the left. The left big tree had a little hole where she can crawl in and stay until the two men left. She thought that they would think she went through those twisty branches. So before she entered her hole in the tree, she went all the way to near the right tree and broke a hole through with all her might.

_There. Now they'll think I went through here. I hope, _she congratulated herself. Then she went to her hole, covered it with a giant tree bark she found, and waited all night for her kidnappers to come.

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"I'm telling you, Jug, she went that way!" Kiro pointed to the left.

"Hey, _I'm_ the one who was painfully hurt; _I _want to capture her! I'm saying she went that way!" Jug pointed to the right.

Jug and Kiro were under the trampoline-like branches Hinata had landed on earlier, but they didn't see that. They just assumed she landed somewhere near , lying dead. But when they didn't find her dead body, they started arguing again about which way the heiress went. Fortunately, the directions they were pointing to were neither of the way Hinata took.

"But the village we took her from was that way, so I'm sure she must have gone that way!" Kiro pointed to the left again.

"It's dark out here! Even with the Byakugan, she wouldn't know where to go!" However, Jug knew his partner was right.

Kiro saw it in his companion's face, too. He had won the argument this time. They marched off to the direction of the Konoha Leaf Village.

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**Please Review!**

**To P5yCH0: To tell you the truth, I've never read or watched Spiderman. Okay, I have seen the 2nd one with Dr. Octopus, but not the first or third.  
I didn't even think of Spiderman!  
I actually got the idea from myself, but it was just a joke. I wasn't even thinking of making the goo alive until I watched this episode from a show that had black blobs.  
Plus I wanted Neji to have a "friend" XD**


	4. The People on the Team

**As I look back at the chapters, I realized it's been kind of a NejiHina, which, if you've read my profile, is a big EW (x5) to me.  
So I better stop.****  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto... you know the rest.**

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Chapter 4: The People on the Team

Naruto stretched an yawned.

He looked at his clock and saw that it was still 7:30, which was earlier than he expected considering that night he just had.

"Well, if I get ready now, Ichiraku's would be open by the time I get there!" he mumbled to himself. So he got up, took a shower, changed clothes, and ran out of the door.

He jumped through the rooftops as he always did, liking the feeling of the wind that rushes to meet his face. He knew this was going to be a good morning!

When he got there he saw a familiar big white dog lying down in front of the ramen shop. Akamaru saw Naruto coming, too, and barked a greeting. He smiled and waved.

When Naruto pushed aside the curtains that covered the bar, he saw Kiba was already eating a bowl of ramen. He muffled a greeting, still slurping a long piece of noodle.

Naruto sat down to the right of his dog-loving friend and ordered his usual miso ramen.

"Ahem."

Naruto looked around him; he heard someone. Kiba was still slurping the noodle (that must be a really long noodle), so it couldn't have been him. He looked around a bit more, then shrugged and went back to waiting for his ramen.

"I see you've forgotten to greet a comrade...Naruto."

Naruto stiffened. He knew that voice and tone too well. He slowly turned his head towards the direction of the voice. He looked past Kiba, and there was Shino glaring at him. That part of the ramen shop was kind of dark, and since Shino wore (as always) something dark, he couldn't see him at first. Naruto gulped a flashed a shaky smile.

"He-ey there, Shino!" he nervously said. Kiba finally finished his noodle, only to look at Naruto with a "You're in trouble with Shino again!" look.

Naruto's ramen came and he took that oppurtunity to quickly get a pair of chopsticks, break it apart, and start eating his ramen. From the corner of his eye, Shino was still glaring at him, but he soon looked away to eat his ramen also.

A few more minutes passed until something happened. Shizune came rushing into the shop, with Tonton in her arms.

"Kiba, Shino, you two are needed at the Hokage tower!" she said. She saw their quizical looks and was about to explain when she saw Naruto. Naruto was looking at her too, but he then switched back to eating when he heard his stomack rumble. Besides, he didn't care about any mission unless he was in it, or wanted to be in it.

Shizune leaned in closer to the two guys. Ayame, who happened to be nearby wiping the work area, opened her ears, because when a girl leans to someone to say something private, it's usually a great topic.

And this _was_ a great topic. Ayame heard the words, "Hinata has been kidnapped!" escape from her mouths. She tried as hard as she could not to gasp.

Meanwhile, Kiba and Shino had on a shocked look (well, Shino's was as shocked as it can get). "Okay," Kiba said, "we'll be there as fast as we can." With that, he gulped down the rest of his ramen while Shino just paid. Then Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru ran off with Shizune and Tonton.

Ayame wondered if Naruto should know. So she decided to use her instinct as a girl: tell him. As a girl, girls love to gossip. She's done it so many times! She is a co-owner of a ramen bar, where most people tell their stories.

"Psst, Naruto," Ayame was in front of her favorite customer now.

"Hm?" Naruto looked up with a bunch of noodles in his mouth.

"Did you hear what Shizune said?" she was whispering so her dad won't hear. Luckily, he was busy trying to create a new ramen, so he wouldn't be looking up until a customer comes.

Naruto gulped down his noodles. "Nope!" He went back down to lift another bunch of noodles.

His chopsticks were still in his mouth when Ayame said, "She said Hinata's been _kidnapped_!"

Naruto almost choked on his noodles _and _chopsticks! When he finally recovered from his coughs (which scared Ayame!) he was still quiet. All of a sudden, he zoomed out of Ichiraku's not forgetting to pay. Ayame watched the blond ninja leave, and looked down at his bowl. She was very surprised; Naruto has never _not _finish a meal of ramen!

* * *

"So that's your mission," Tsunade finished.

"Understood," the two boys said. Akamaru barked.

Suddenly, the door burst open.

"GRAMMA TSUNADE, WHAT'S THIS ABOUT HINATA BEING KIDNAPPED?!" Naruto shouted as soon as he walked in.

"Oh great, an eavesdropper!" Kiba cried.

Naruto ignored the comment and marched right up to the Hokage. He slammed his hand down on her desk, making it tremble. "I want to be a part of the mission!" he was still shouting, but not as loud as before.

Tsunade sighed. She didn't want to be dealing with this idiot right now. "Naruto, I've put you on the back-up team. Only then will you be able to rescue Hinata," she said calmy. She had her elbows on the table and her hands folded and covering her mouth, as she always did when she wanted to calmly speak to Naruto. And her face was always painted with impatience whenever this boy would show up in her office.

"NO!" Naruto continued to shout. "I WANT TO BE ON THE MAIN TEAM! I CAN'T WAIT FOR SOMEONE TO CALL A BACK-UP TEAM!" He was fuming. How come this old bag never puts him on the missions that are really _important_? Besides Sasuke?

"May I ask you _why_ you want to be on this mission?" the Hokage asked.

"Because," Naruto stopped shouting and his gaze looked to the floor. "Hinata's one of my dearest friends! I can't just let her be captured and not care! That wouldn't be a true friend! I haven't realized this until now, but, Hinata's always been there for me. When I'm feeling down, she's always at my side, comforting me. She knows what to do or say whenever I'm sad. Her voice and touch is so soothing. She's like the mother that I never had. That's why I never want her to be gone...gone from my life." Naruto was starting to have tears in his eyes. Good thing he was looking down. "And now...now I know what I truly feel when I'm around her. I feel happy, excited, and just one look of her face is enough to calm me down." Naruto was smiling at this. "And you know what? I think I'm starting to l--"

"Sorry I'm late Lady Tsunade but I can explain!" Neji was next to burst into the room.

* * *

Neji made sure he would wake up extra early that morning. He wanted to be prepared to start the mission for rescuing Hinata. He got out of bed and packed up the necessary things for the mission. He also included Hinata's favorite pair of pants, her lavender jacket, and her shoes, remembering that all she had on last night was her nightgown.

When he was walking from Hinata's room to the door, he heard something drop behind him. He turned around quickly...to find the black jelly-like glob staring up at him.

At first Neji feared it would attack again, but it didn't do anything, so he calmed down. "What do you want?" he asked a little harshly. The glob tilted its head and made another warble sound.

Neji was getting impatient with the goo. So he turned around and continued to walk towards the door. The black goo continued to follow him, creeping along the floor like a slug. Just before he reached the door, Neji stopped. If this goo was going to keep following him, wouldn't he lead it towards the Hokage tower?

_It's a spy!_ He suddenly thought_. That's why those two goons left it with me! Maybe what they're really after is the Hokage, and if it keeps following me, I'm leading them to there! I'm not going to fall for that!_

The Hyuga prodigy then thought of a plan. He would lead it into the forest, then abandon him. It was brilliant!

--

Why couldn't he lose this creature?! He led it into the forest as planned, and then ditched it. When he was about to go on the trail that leads to the tower, he found the goo still following him.

"B-but I thought I left you 10 km away!" he exclaimed.

"Grrlllp," it replied. He tried again, walking purposely towards a part of the forest with thorns everywhere. He looked nervously at all the deadly thorns. He thought about the poor creature, just doing its job. However, its job was to be lead to the Hokage tower, and he will not let that happen! So he pushed all the thoughts about what the goo would look like after the thorn forest to the side, and stepped through.

But he had forgotten about himself. Neji tried as hard as he could walking through the thorns without getting poked, but it was like a car trying to squeeze through a tight alley. It can't be helped if you get scratched. In the end, he had wasted 15 minutes of time, because on the other side was the goo creature. And that's when he remembered that the goo creature was made of a jelly-like substance. Going through a thorn forest for it was as easy as a person walking through a cloud.

Neji sighed an irritated sigh.

So he tried once more. Although this time, he found a wild boar (**A/N: I don't know if there's any animals in the Konoha forest, but I'll just assume there is**). He tiptoed behind it, making sure the black blob was still following him. He then, as hard as he could, slapped the boar's back.

The boar was just happily eating some nice fruits he found when he suddenly felt a pang of pain on his back. He turned around angrily to see who had done it. He found a young man covered thorns and scratches, and next to him was a small animal he had never seen before. He assumed it was the young man, since his hand was raised in the air.

The boar's eyes turned red and chased after Neji. Neji was running through the forest. He looked behind him and saw the boar close behind, but the goo creature was nowhere to be seen. At first he was happy he had finally gotten rid of it, but the boar's loud roar brought him back to his problem. He continued to run until he was out of breath.

* * *

"Is that why you're all covered in twigs and stuff?" Kiba asked.

Neji shyly smiled. "It was worth it."

"It doesn't matter! We need to start the mission now!"

Neji, Kiba, and Shino looked a Tsunade, but she shook her head. She pointed her finger at Naruto.

So Naruto had said it.

"Wait, Naruto, what are you doing here?!" Neji realized his rival of back then was here.

"He's going to be on the team."

This time, Naruto's face was added to the collection of surprised looks at Tsunade.

"He _is?!_"

"I _am?!_"

"I don't really want to deal with this. We need to start the mission. Hinata is getting farther and farther away from us. We need to get her back before her father and sister come home. Besides, I don't want to see Naruto. Every time I look at his face, I get a really tired feeling even if I'm well rested that day. So leave now," Tsunade leaned back in her chair, smiling.

Naruto was beaming. "Don't you worry, Gramma. I'll bring Hinata back no matter what!" At this, Tsunade's face turned into a frown. Did he just say what she thought he said?

_It's so close to what he said about Sasuke when he's looking for him_, she thought to herself_. So then, he really is determined_.

"I've already lost a friend. I'm not about to lose another one!" Naruto said.

Neji, Kiba, or Shino weren't going to argue with him. They were determined to get her back also.

"Let's go," Neji led the way.

* * *

The goo creature saw his master at the gates. He was leaving without him!

When the boar came charging towards his master, he didn't know what to do. He got scared and turned to the flat goo again. When he turned back to normal, his master and the boar was gone!

He started panicking, but then he smelled the really faint smell of gasoline, plus the now familiar smell of his new master. He decided to follow it.

Finally, he was out of the forest, and there was his master, just a couple of meters away! He was with three other people, probably his friends. They were talking to each other, then they ran out of the gates!

The goo creature zoomed along with them, following close behind. He wasn't going to lose his master again!

* * *

**Please review!**

**I tried hard to make this one longer than the other ones, and I think I did it.  
I actually wanted to add a little more, but then it would have been too long.**


	5. The People in the Forest

**5th Chapter! My lucky number!  
****Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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Chapter 5: The People in the Forest

"Kiro, Jug, are you there?"

The two men looked at each other nervously. They knew that voice. Kiro got his walkie talkie from his small pack.

"H-here, Master," he said.

"Where are you? I've been waiting all night for the girl!" the voice boomed in the radio. It was a deep voice.

"W-well," it was Jug's turn to talk, "we were up all night trying to find her."

Actually, Jug and Kiro looked for her in the forest, but soon they were near Konoha, so they stopped. They went deeper into the forest so they wouldn't be seen or noticed and went to sleep. Their master's voice woke them up.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WERE TRYING TO _FIND_ HER?!" the voice boomed even more loudly than before. Some birds flew away.

The two men gulped. It was time to explain. "Maybe we should tell him a compliment today!" Kiro whispered. Jug nodded. "Hey, sir, your voice is being extra deep today!" Kiro exclaimed.

"What kind of a compliment is that, Kiro?! Give me that radio!" Jug snatched the walkie talkie out of Kiro's hands. "What he means, sir, is that you're feeling calmer than we would have thought, which shows that you are great in controlling your feelings!"

"Oh yeah, that's a much better compliment than mine!" Kiro said sarcastically. The big one shot an evil eye at his thin partner.

"Shut up you two idiots and listen to me!" said the voice, who clearly ignored the "compliments" he was given earlier. The captors snapped to attention. "Since you lost her, I will deal with you later, but right now I need that girl for my collection. I invented a plan while you were gone, in case you birdbrains lost her. He's already started it when he saw the girl fall. Now, your parts in this plan is this..."

* * *

She must have fallen asleep because then Hinata's eyes were fluttering open. A light shone through the makeshift door she put on last night.

She blinked at the light, and then her eyes widened as the light suddenly disappeared. Someone was blocking it!

Hinata stood up quickly (the hole was big enough), ready to fight, even if her hands were still tied. The door moved slightly, and then more and more until it finally just fell to the ground, shining the whole hole.

Hinata had to squint and cover her eyes. She peeked a little, and she saw a silhouetted person standing in the doorway. The person took one step towards her and Hinata went back to battle mode, trying as hard as she could ignore the blinding light.

The person took more steps. "Stay back!" Hinata managed to say. It stopped.

"What are you doing here?" the person asked. It was a man's voice. Well, it was more of a teen boy's voice.

Hinata didn't answer; this person could be one of her captors but transformed. In fact, she believed that was the truth so much that she questioned, "How did you find me?" Inside, Hinata was scared to death, but she hoped her voice didn't sound like that.

To the young teen, she asked that question a little too harshly. All he asked was what she was doing here. "Um, I store my food in here," he replied.

Hinata's eyes widened, then she looked around her. He was right; there were jars and boxes of things in here. She looked behind her. Maybe now she'll know why the thing she was sleeping on last night was so soft. She did find out, but she didn't like it. The whole night, Hinata was sleeping on a dead dear.

Hinata cried a surprised scream and quickly backed away, only to bump into the teen. "Umph" he said. Hinata quickly turned around; she had not forgotten her belief, but she was starting to doubt that. The boy was tan. His hair was a sort of dark sand color and he had hazel eyes. He wore a thin deerskin shirt, a leather vest, deerskin pants, and furry boots.

The boy thought the girl was weird. Pretty, but weird. Then he saw that she was tied up. "Hey, are you okay?" he asked. She didn't say anything. "You want me to untie that for you?" he pointed at her wrists. She still didn't say anything, but her eyes were a little softer. She _really _wanted to be untied, but she was hesitating. Finally, she had an answer.

"Yes," she mumbled as softly as she could, but the boy heard it anyway. He took her hands and examined the expertly tied rope. He shook his head.

"I can't untie it," he told her. Hinata's face turned to worry. Then it turned to relief as she heard him say, "but I can cut it. Follow me."

Still holding her wrists, he led her through the forest. Hinata's bare feet were feeling numb from the running, so she didn't feel most of the things she stepped on.

Instead, she looked around her. The trees were very tall and there were so many of them. She could hear birds chirping, and bushes rustling as a rabbit would run through them. Hinata couldn't help smiling!

Pretty soon, the two teenagers stopped in front of a cave. "This is where I live," the boy explained. He went inside, but Hinata stayed outside. She was surprised to see a cave out in the middle of the forest. Then she found out that it wasn't in the middle of the forest because the cave was in a mountain. She looked up to see it high above her head and into the clouds. She loooked behind her and saw that the forest ended a couple of meters away from the cave. _Does the forest end here? _she thought to herself. In the distance, she saw birds flying away.

"Hey, are you coming in or not?" the boy asked Hinata from the front of the cave. She certainly was weird. The Hyuga heiress turned her attention to the boy's voice, remembered what she was doing, then ran inside with him. She didn't think the boy was her captor anymore.

* * *

"So what's your name?" the boy asked her when they were settled in.

He had cut the ropes, and while he was cutting, he noticed Hinata's bloody feet. After the ropes fell, he went to find a bucket. He told Hinata to stay here while he gets some water. While he was gone, Hinata explored the cave. He had a big rock on top of two smaller rocks. In between the smaller rocks, there were twigs. Near the rocks were a bunch of leaves, which some were burned. She assumed this is where he cooked.

Hinata was sitting on one of the two logs that were set near the cooking place. She walked deeper into the cave, passing many cabinets. She was surprised to already see the back of the cave. In the back of the cave, there was a wooden bed with a fur blanket and a lantern on top of it. Near the foot of the bed was a hanging shelf with many tools. The shelf was hung by two thick vines. The vines were attached to the ceiling by some kind of black thing. Hinata was wondering about this when the boy returned with the water.

He quickly heated it up with the fire to a warm temperature and told Hinata to clean her feet. She did as she was told. While she was cleansing, the boy asked for her name.

"Hinata Hyuga," she answered. "Yours?"

"Ryu Kato."

"Ryo, like money?" Hinata giggled. The boy laughed with her.

"No, Ryu with a 'u'," he said, smiling. He stood up and went to one of his cabinets to find a bandage for the girl.

Hinata didn't know her feet were this bruised. There were cuts and bruises everywhere. The warm water felt good after that cold night. Then she thought of something. "Ryu, where did you get the water?"

Without looking up, he said, "Over at the creek." Then he stood up as he found what he was looking for. He also got one of his softest towels that he made.

He handed both to Hinata. Hinata gladly took them, dried her feet, then wrapped the bandage around each of her foot. She felt much better.

Then her stomach grumbled. She blushed as Ryu laughed. "I was so caught up in this, I forgot about breakfast! Wait here," Ryu rushed out of the cave.

When he returned, he found Hinata warming up near the fire. He noticed how the flames flickered across her face. He started to blush.

Hinata noticed Ryu standing at the mouth of the cave. "Ryu, why aren't you coming in?"

"Oh, I, um, was thinking of something."

He put the two boxes of food he brought over on the ground. He opened the first box, which were filled with fruits and vegetables. The second box had meat in it.

Ryu clapped his hands and rubbed it. "Okay, time to eat!"

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**Please Review!**

**I didn't know how to end this chapter!  
I put in some last minute thoughts, so the story may sound weird.  
And the ending was _really _rushed.**

**For my lucky number, I think this chapter is the worst so far! I just didn't know what else to do in this chapter! T_T  
The main point was to show where Hinata, Jug, and Kiro were while Naruto and the others were discussing about Hinata's kidnapping.**


	6. Day 1

**How long has it been since I last updated? I think about three days.  
Usually I update like, what, once every two days?  
Whatever... I was inspired then.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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Chapter 6: Day 1

Akamaru barked.

Kiba and the others stopped and looked at him.

"What's wrong, boy?" Kiba asked. Akamaru barked again. "He says someone-or some_thing_-is following us," the owner said after a while.

Neji activated his Byakugan and looked around. There, about 100 meters behind (and coming fast), was a big blob of chakra. Neji recognized it right away and his eyes widened.

"Quickly," he suddenly cried, "run as fast as you can!" Before the others could question him, Neji ran off. The three followed him.

However, before they coul get far, a black blob zoomed past Naruto, Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino and clobbered Neji to the ground. The boys stopped to watch Neji roll down the path.

Finally they stopped and the four caught up with them.

"What is that?" Naruto pointed at the black thing that was sitting on top of Neji's chest. The goo creature looked curiously at the four new faces. He didn't know any of them, but they all looked friendly enough. Except for the big white furry animal. He's going to have to watch that one. Those fangs looked dangerous.

Neji slowly sat up, rubbing his head. Naruto, Kiba, and Shino (who didn't show it) were all amazed at the thing that was still sticking to Neji's chest.

Neji looked down at the goo creature, who was staring back up at him. "Brrrllgrrrll!" he purred, accidentally spraying black goo all over his master's face. Neji groaned, while Naruto and Kiba were laughing.

Shino, ignoring the two immatures, asked the same question Naruto asked earlier.

"It's a goo thing, or something, that's like a super glue. If you touch it, you'll be stuck," Neji explained while carefully wiping his face with a chakra covered hand. He looked down at it. He was about to study it when it slipped from his hand and back into the goo creature. Then he jumped off his master. "I got it from the enemy."

"A _living_ goo?" Naruto asked after he finished laughing.

"I guess so," Neji replied.

"So," Kiba came next, "a goo that's like glue. Hey let's name him Gloo, spelled G-L-O-O! It's a combination of goo and glue!"

"Why are we naming it?" Neji thought Kiba was teasing him, which got him irritated.

"Well obviously it likes you and will keep following you like some typed of faithful dog," Shino spoke this time. "So we might as well name it."

Neji was shocked, but he didn't know which he was shocked more at: what Shino was saying, or the fact that he now has a faithful black jelly dog as a companion.

"So it's agreed," Naruto knelt down to pet the goo, forgetting about the stickiness, "we're naming him Gloo!" He now found himself stuck. "Uh, Neji..."

"You need to surround your hand with a thin coat of chakra, but not too much, because I think that hurts him," Neji remembered how he had put a lot of chakra on his hand and the goo just suddenly jumped to the ceiling.

"Uh, I don't know how to do that."

Neji got even more irritated. Why did that Hokage have to send him along with them?

Gloo (he liked his new name) didn't want this yellow-haired boy petting him. He wasn't comfortable with him yet. So he crawled closer to his master.

All four boys were surprised at this. "I didn't even do anything," Naruto said.

"I think," Shino started, "that Gloo can decide if he wants to stick or not."

_That makes sense, _Neji thought, also remembering how easy it was for him to be free from all that goo.

Suddenly, he thought of an idea. The big one was using goo, so maybe he can use Gloo as a hostage. That was the only way he could keep him. He felt guilty for thinking of this, but who was he to care? After all, that creature could still be a spy! He wondered about this plan. Yes, Gloo _has _to be a spy! Why else would he be following them? He's going to report to that big one about their progress. Then, he and his thin partner would ambush them!

Neji pondered about this so much that he forgot that the two men had Hinata, and he also missed the first 100 calls from his teammates, who were all calling his name.

"Neji, let's go!" Naruto was shouting.

Neji snapped out of his thoughts and ran over to his friends, with Gloo clinging on to his ankle.

Shino looked up at the sky. Soon the sun would go down. If he was the leader, he would already be thinking of a place to sleep.

But he was not. Neji was.

And he didn't know what Neji was thinking.

* * *

Everything was perfect! The size, the design, and even the shoes!

Ryu had made Hinata clothes.

She was looking at herself on the stream that Ryu showed her earlier. He didn't know how he made her clothes real fast, or how he got the correct sizes, but she didn't care. She was just glad not to be in her nightgown anymore. It's awkward when a lot of things happen to you and all you're wearing is a sleep wear.

She hugged herself, twirled herself, and she even put chakra on her feet and started dancing on top of the water! She was such in a happy mood!

Her clothes were this: deerskin pants, a silk shirt (Ryu used up all the silk from the silkworms that he's been saving) with rare flowers that he found sewn in, a red-brown fur jacket (that she won't wear until it gets cold), and leather flats (**A/N: I don't know if leather flats are comfortable, but I do know boots are, so I just assumed they would be nice also**). Ryu said that he was a fast worker, that living in the forest gives you a lot of time to practice.

"Hey Hinata!" Ryu was coming through the trees, so Hinata quickly got to land. "It's getting cold out; we'd better get inside." With that, the two walked back to the cave where the fire had already been started.

Once they got warmed up, Hinata asked, "Ryu, how come you live in the forest?"

Ryu just stared at the fire. "I'd rather not talk about it," he muttered after a while. Now Hinata felt bad; Ryu made her such wonderful clothes and then she goes around and asks Ryu a personal question.

She decided not to talk the rest of the time.

* * *

Soon night came, and Neji's team was making camp. Their problem: Where is Gloo sleeping?

* * *

"No, no, you have the bed Ryu. It's yours after all."

"But Hinata, you're the guest. I'll just sleep on my sleeping bag."

Their problem: Who is sleeping on the bed?

* * *

Jug and Kiro were getting ready for the plan to start. Their problem: How do they start it?

* * *

**Please Review!**

**I am getting lazier these days! I think it was because I was discouraged from my last chapter.  
Oh well!  
Happy Almost Christmas!**


	7. Day 2

**Now _this _is the longest I haven't updated!  
HAPPY BIRTHDAY HINATA!!! (Yesterday)  
She is my FAVORITE character!****  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, but I wish I owned Hinata!**

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Chapter 7: Day 2

Naruto was the first to wake up. He couldn't sleep last night; he didn't know why.

He was lying on his back staring up at the tent roof. After a few more minutes of staring, he sighed and got up.

Luckily, he found a creek nearby, so he went to wash his face. When he got back, he looked at his surroundings. He didn't get to look at it very well last night.

They set up a tent underneath what looks like a bunch of leaves. There were two trees far enough apart that they had branches with growing leaves touching each other. Out of boredom, he climbed up one of the trees. What he found on top fascinated him. From the top, the bunch of leaves looked like a trampoline! Near one of the sides was a little dent, which he assumed that either it's been there for a long time, or someone recently dropped there...

_Yeah right! Who would drop from the sky?! Unless it's a bird, _he chuckled to himself as he imagined a bird falling. He looked more closely at the dent, and saw that it was too big to be a bird. He was going to think some more when he heard Kiba.

"Naruto, what're you doing up there? C'mon, it's time to eat!" Kiba yelled at Naruto.

Naruto jumped down from the tree. Their breakfast was two eggs Neji found. They were already cooking over a hot fire.

As they ate, Neji announced, "You know, while I was looking for eggs, I found two big twisted trees. Their branches were twisting around each other, so it looks like it's hard to go through. However, I found a hole on the righ side."

Everybody (except the pets) stopped eating and stared at Neji. Shino gulped down his food.

"So you think that Hinata or her captors could have gone through there?" he asked. Neji nodded.

"We should check it out now, then!" Naruto suddenly stood up, not feeling hungry anymore.

"Hey, I'm starving here! If those two guys are there, I can't fight with a grumbling stomach!" Kiba complained.

"He's right," the Hyuga resumed eating his egg. "We need our strenght first."

Hesitating, Naruto sat back down. _Don't worry, Hinata. We're coming!_

_

* * *

_

In the end, Hinata ended up sleeping on the bed.

She woke up after a well rested sleep. _First, being woken up by two goons; second, sleeping in a hollow tree on a dead deer; third, a bed. It feels great!_

She smiled to herself, then looked down so she can silently thank Ryu.

To her surprise, Ryu wasn't on his sleeping bag. However, there was a note (**A/N: Ryu has paper, a feather pen, and ink out of berries. Weird, huh?**). She took the note and read this:

_'Morning Hinata!  
I had to do some things, so I won't be here when you wake up.  
Stay safe!  
Your friend, Ryu  
PS You can get breakfast from the storage tree._

Ryu's handwriting was kind of messy; it reminded her of something.

Oh yes, it was like Naruto's handwriting.

_Naruto._

Hinata realized she hadn't been thinking of him for a while. The loud, blond, and destructive ninja of the Leaf Village. She giggled as she remembered everything he's done.

After a few more queit memories, she got up. She didn't change to her nightgown (she didn't want to), so she was ready to leave. All she needed was to find her shoes. Ah, there it is.

She put them on and headed outside. She smelled the fresh morning air all around her. She loves that smell.

_Now where's that tree? _she looked around her.

Then, Hinata found the path that she and Ryu took. She decided to follow it. After a few minutes, she found the trees with the twisty branches.

Memories of that night flooded Hinata's mind. The capture, the fall, the running; everything! She even remembered the small hole she made (she found that too).

Surprisingly, the Hyuga heirress wasn't that disturbed with her memories. She had good memories to go along with it, like meeting Ryu, her new friend.

So she shrugged it off and went to the front of the left tree. She was about to move the big branch covering the hole, when she smelled something.

_Do I smell, eggs? _she asked herself. She shook the thought out of her head. It must have been her imagination; who would be (besides Ryu) in the middle of the forest cooking eggs?

She got the branch out and searched for a good breakfast. She decided to take the box of fruits and vegetables, and the box with fox meat (**A/N: Fox meat. That kind of scares me. It makes me think of Naruto. Naruto meat. AAAHH!**)

It was when she was carrying the surprisingly light boxes that she remembered another thing.

She had never seen these food here.

When she was looking for a place to stay on the night she was kidnapped, she did find this tree, but not the things inside. With her Byakugan, she should have seen that there were things inside this tree.

_You must have been sleepy, Hinata. You couldn't concentrate, _she told herself, but she was getting suspicious.

Again, she shook all thoughts out and continued to carry the boxes to the cave.

The cave. The cave in the mountain. Why was there a mountain? When she was being carried in the air, she didn't see any mountain coming their way.

_But remember Hinata: you were _falling from the sky. _You can't notice anything when you think you're about to die!_

Hinata siged; she was starting to argue with herself. She continued to walk, but in the direction of the creek for she remembered she needed to wash the food.

---

When she reached the cave, Hinata started a fire. She also had a pot of boiling water so she can make some soup.

She was just about ready to eat when Ryu showed up.

"Hey, you made breakfast!" was the first thing he said when he entered. Realizing this, he quickly said, "Good morning Hinata!"

Hinata, though, didn't notice this and replied with a good morning to Ryu.

Ryu sat down on one of the logs and picked up a plate that Hinata prepared for him. "Thanks!" he said, already taking the first bite of the fox meat.

---

When the two were almost done, there was a sudden gust of wind that blew the fire out.

Everything inside the cave blew everywhere. Hinata covered herself with her arms.

When the wind died out, standing in the entrance of the cave were Kiro and Jug.

"You know, Princess," Jug started to say, "what you did to me two nights ago was real painful. Now it's time to return the favor."

Hinata recognized that voice immediately, even though she hadn't heard of it for a day (**A/N: This sentence doesn't sound right**)

"Hold on Jug," the skinny one was saying. "I just remembered. We haven't introduced ourselves yet," he looked at Hinata, who was looking at them. "Hi, I'm Kirotumaru, but you can just call me Kiro."

"And I'm Jug, just Jug."

"We already know who you are, so an introductory from you is unnecessary. We're here to bring you to our master."

"And maybe a boulder or two will put you out long enough us to take you there!"

"Now, now, Jug. I'm sure she didn't mean to kick you there. We don't need to drop a boulder on her."

"Kiro, you don't know how hard she kicked me!"

"Our mission was to take her to him safely!"

At this, Jug closed his mouth. "Tch!"

By now, Hinata was already in a fighting position. Ryu was standing, but he wasn't doing anything. Just standing there.

Kiro looked around the cave. "Master said the person he sent out already started the mission. But look; instead, he gave her a luxurious time!" he said with disgust.

"Wh-what are you talking about?" Ryu suddenly cried out. Kiro, Jug, and Hinata all looked at him surprisingly.

"Right then, we need to proceed with the mission," Kiro said.

Jug performed lightning quick hand signs. When he finished, he held out his hands. "Black Spit Jutsu!"

Out came black goo from Jug's hands, which wrapped around the female Hyuga.

"HINATA!!" Ryu shouted.

_Captured again! What's wrong with me?! _Hinata started to panic. She was back in the situation of that night, except this time, Neji wasn't there. Instead, there was Ryu, which was good, but he wasn't doing anything. He was standing there with his mouth open.

"Ry--" black stuff covered Hinata's mouth. Before she had a time to react, she felt a hard fist on her cheek. The next thing she knew, she was flying to the back part of the cave.

Her eyesight was getting fainter and fainter, but she could see well enough to see that Ryu was still standing there with a horrified look.

She thought it was just her glazing eyes playing tricks on her, but she thought she saw a little smirk on Ryu's now-almost-calm face.

She passed out.

* * *

"Did you guys hear that?" Naruto asked. They were now inspecting the hole on the twisty branches. Naruto thought he heard a faint scream. It sounded like somebody was screaming Hinata's name.

"Yeah. Sounded like a guy's voice," Kiba replied.

"My bugs sense powerful chakra from that way," Shino pointed through the hole.

"But there's nothing past this hole but more trees," Kiba commented.

"Byakugan!" Neji looked around him. He saw a nearby mountain. The whole inside mountain was covered in.....chakra?

"Hey, guys," Naruto said, "something's wrong with Gloo. Neji looked away for a minute to look at his new jelly-dog.

Naruto was right. Gloo was shivering madly. He sensed too much chakra in one spot.

_Something's going on here, _Neji thought as he watched the creature continue to shake. He felt sorry for him.

"We need to find out what's going on behind this obstacle!" he said aloud this time while picking up Gloo, not caring if he got stuck. His plan of using him was forgotten.

Once they crossed the trees (by going around it), Kiba set Akamaru to sniffing a trail. He barked when he caught a familiar scent.

"Akamaru said he smells Hinata's scent!" Kiba said. "Lead the way, buddy!"

And so Akamaru did, with the rest of the team close behind.

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**Please Review!  
Sorry for any mistakes on this chapter. I didn't really read it over.**

**Is this a cliffhanger? If so, MWAHAHAHAHA!  
If not, BOOHOOHOOHOOHOO!**

**For those wondering, I did think of a Naruto Christmas special, but I didn't get to finish it.  
I was also DYING to make a Hinata birthday story, but I was going to make that a sequel for the Christmas special, so I decided not to make it.**


	8. Back in Konoha

**Whoah, it's chapter 8!  
I'm almost to 10!  
****MWAHAHAHAHA! I didn't start from the last chapter!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; Masashi Kishimoto does -- he has a twin!!**

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Chapter 8: Back in Konoha

_This takes place during Day 2. Neji was looking for breakfast when he spotted the hole.  
Hinata woke up while Neji was looking at the hole.  
The day was still young, but the sun was already near the top of the sky._

"Welcome back, Lord Hiashi," the guard in the compound bowed. "And of course Lady Hanabi."

Hiashi and Hanabi nodded at the guard. They just got back from, what Hanabi thought, a boring, and really short, mission. To Hiashi, it was a tiring, and not short enough, mission. His hand will probably hurt for three days signing all those papers. Now he knows how the Hokage feels.

When they entered the compound and were about to go into their rooms, another guard showed up before them.

"Lord Hiashi, sorry for announcing this to you right after a mission, but..." the guard quickly remembered that he's not to speak until his Lord tells him to.

"Continue," Hiashi said, not really wanting to know. It's probably about Hinata not wanting a guard again. She never wanted a guard, claiming she can take care of herself. Oh well, at least there's Neji.

"It's about Lady Hinata." _Here we go._

"She's been kidnapped." At this, Hiashi nearly fainted. Hanabi's jaw fell to the floor and rolled away.

"When did this happen?!" the head of the Hyuga demanded an answer.

"The day after you left. A-about three days ago," the guard was getting scared. (**A/N: Kiro and Jug kidnapped Hinata the day after Hiashi and Hanabi left; they wanted to make sure he was really gone.**)

"THREE DAYS?!!" Hiashi screamed. "WHERE WERE ALL THE GUARDS?!!"

"Y-you g-g-gave us that d-day o-o-off," the Branch guard replied sheepishly.

"A DAY OFF?!! WHY WOULD I GIVE YOU ALL A DAY OFF WHEN I, THE HEAD, WILL BE LEAVING?!! I WOULD BE ASSIGNING TWICE AS MUCH GUARDS TO PROTECT THE PLACE!!"

"I-I don't know, S-sir, but you told us that you d-didn't need that much g-g-guards, so you gave us that d-d-day off," the guard couldn't help stammering. He didn't like it when Lord Hiashi was in this type of mood. "I-if it helps, Sir, the Hokage wishes to s-see you after your mission."

Hiashi didn't reply; instead he dropped his things, turned around, and headed for the door. Hanabi didn't know if she should follow. She wanted to know what happened to her sister. She had the right to know, right? Hanabi walked quickly to catch up with her father.

Hiashi couldn't believe what just happened. Hinata, his eldest daughter, has just been kidnapped! She may be weak and not fit to be the head of the Hyuga, but she's still his daughter! Besides, she does look like her mother.

* * *

"What is the meaning of this?!" was the first thing the Hyuga head said when he burst into the room.

Tsunade sighed. After finally having three days of peace and quiet, someone had to ruin it. Oh well, all good things must come to an end.

"Hiashi, welcome back," she greeted him with a tired smile. Shizune, who was standing next to the Hokage desk and holding Tonton, bowed in respect. The head, however, ignored the greeting and the bow. He marched right up to the desk.

"A guard of mine told me that my eldest daughter is gone!" he shouted, though not as loud as Naruto. Hanabi looked for a seat to sit on. Shizune notice this and gave her the chair she slept on the night she heard Neji's scream.

"That's true," Tsunade replied.

"Have you already organized an ANBU team to search for her?"

"ANBU? We don't need people that proffesional to look for your daughter. I did send a team of four, though."

"Who are they?"

"Neji, Kiba, and Shino." Hiashi sighed in relief to hear Neji's name.

"And Naruto." This made his heart stop (**A/N: I exaggerate too much.**)

"N-naruto? You sent Naruto, too?" Tsunade nodded. "Why? He's only a Genin." Hiashi didn't feel comfortable to know that Naruto's on the mission also.

"Ranks don't matter. You saw yourself at the Chunin exams that he beat Neji. He's a Genin, but his power exceeds even the most skilled Jonin; he's even more powerful than Kakashi."

Hiashi's eyes widened in surprise. _Kakashi's?_

"So no need to worry. I've even set a backup team in case they need help."

"And who are they?"

"Sakura, Shikamaru, and Tenten"

"Can I be on the backup team?!" This time Hanabi cried out. She was standing up with her hand raised. Tsunade, Hiashi, and Shizune looked at her. With the stares, she suddenly got embarrassed and sat back down with her head down.

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Tsunade smiled.

Hanabi's head shot back up, while Hiashi's quickly turned around. Now all eyes were on Tsunade.

"Really?" Hiashi and Hanabi cried in unison.

"Don't you agree?" the Hokage turned to the Hyuga head. "Besides, Shikamaru just called and said he couldn't come. He says there's some business here."

"Oh?" Hiashi raised an eyebrow. He was thinking. _Maybe this will be good for her._

"Why are you so worried about Hinata anyway? I thought Hanabi was going to be the future head?" Tsunade asked.

Hiashi wasn't prepared to answer this question. How can he answer this question without revealing his true feelings for his daughter? Then he remembered something. "Since Hinata is part of the Main house, she has no seal. Her kidnappers are able to kill her and study the works of the Byakugan. As the leader of the Hyuga Clan, I can't let that happen."

This time, Tsunade raised an eyebrow. She knew he was hiding something. She also saw Hanabi roll her eyes. She smiled to herself.

"I see. So do you need anything else?" Tsunade asked, leaning back on her chair.

Somehow, this surprised Hiashi; he didn't know what else to do. He only came here to confirm what the guard said earlier. Suddenly, he remembered that the guard said he gave them a day off. He remembered no such thing. This would be a good chance to ask him some questions. "No," he answered, thinking.

"Okay then, Hanabi, come here. You need the mission briefing." Tsunade beckoned Hinata's little sister over. Hanabi stood up and walked to the Hokage desk, standing next to her father. "Hiashi, you may leave."

At first, the old Hyuga didn't hear her, still being in thought. Then Tonton snorted and this brought Hiashi back. "Uh, yes, thank you." He didn't even notice that Hanabi was still in the office.

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**Please Review!**

**You know, I think every time I mention a chapter, I do a bad job on it. -_-'  
I don't think I did a good job explaining everything here.**


	9. The Meeting?

**Hey everybody! Happy New Year's Eve!  
Now let's count down...to this chapter!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto  
3-2-1-HAPPY NEW CHAPTER!**

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Chapter 9: The Meeting...?

Branches slapped Naruto's face; Kiba nearly tripped and fell, and Akamaru was behind him in case he did fall; Shino stepped on something squishy; Neji tried hard to keep Gloo safe, though he had no idea why.

None of them cared what happened to them, as long as they got Hinata back. They ran through the dense forest, determined to get their teammate/best friend/cousin back.

Finally, they burst through the trees, all breathing hard.

"Where's Hinata?" Naruto asked. The other boys looked around. He was right; Hinata was no where to be found. All they saw was a cave with a fire pit in the middle that was recently doused. Although, Naruto thought he saw something in the cave.

Neji activated his Byakugan. Quickly, he found Hinata, the kidnappers, and some boy. "Up there!" he pointed above them. All the other boys looked up. Sure enough, there was a wind platform floating above them. There were three men, and Hinata being carried bridal style by the big, strong man.

This scene seemed familiar to Naruto. Where has he seen this? Oh yeah, it was outside his window when he woke up in the middle of the night. So they were the ones. Naruto got angry with himself. Why hadn't he looked closer? If he knew that that was them, he would've stopped them and then Hinata would be back home safe and sound.

With a sudden burst of anger, Naruto poured chakra on his feet. He leaped to a tree, then on to the mountain, then back to the tree, until finally, he was high enough to reach out for the man who was carrying his friend (who could turn out to be something more). He landed once more on the side of the mountain, then jumped towards the big man. The three men spotted the young ninja coming towards them, but they didn't move, only watched him.

Naruto didn't notice this; he was only after Hinata. Soon, he was close. As if in slow motion, his right hand formed into a fist. It went back behind him, way back. When he was close enough, he thrust his fist toward the man's face.

Down below, Gloo was going crazy, shaking more and more. When he saw one of his master's friends leaping toward his old master, he started garbling again. "Grlarrb, brlark, grrllb, bgrrrl!"

Neji noticed this and got scared. He was tempted to let go, but he remembered he was stuck to him.

Kiba also noticed this. "Gloo is trying to warn us of something," he said.

"How do you know?" Neji asked.

"That's the way Akamaru barks when he's trying to warn me of something."

Neji's eyes widened. "Naruto wait!"

Too late. Naruto was already swinging his arm hard towards the man with the expressionless face. It was as if there was a rocket on his arm. His eyes were red with the fox.

Naruto's punch made contact with the man's nose. But instead of feeling a hard skull, he felt...goo. Black slime splattered everywhere as his hand went completely through the man's face.

His hand continued to go through; his body continued to fly through the air. Soon, his shoulder was through, his face was next to the now black face of the man. Naruto was too shocked to remember to look down at Hinata. Everything was still slow motion.

Finally, he snapped out of it, only to find himself still in the air, heading straight for the trees below. His arm was still in the punching postion, as if it was frozen. He quickly turned around at the now distant figures. The man's head was gone, but his shoulders were completely covered with a black substance. Naruto hoped that wasn't blood.

With his head still turned, he crashed into the forest.

* * *

Neji, Kiba, and Shino all saw this happen. They saw how Naruto jumped from tree to rock; they saw how he leaped towards the big man with Hinata; they saw how he went through him as if he was a hologram; they saw him fall in the trees.

Except for the time Naruto fell in the forest, Gloo kept garbling the whole time.

"Is that what he was warning us about?" Shino was more stiff than usual.

Suddenly, the wind platform swayed. It appeared as if it was weakening. After a few seconds, the platform completely dissapeared. The four figures were still motionless, and they began to fall.

"Get out of the way!" Kiba was already running to the forest. The other two boys and Akamaru followed.

With a huge thud, the four people banged on to the ground. After a couple of minutes, Neji's head poked around his tree to see what happened to them. Gloo had stopped shaking so violently.

What he saw disturbed him. He saw the others also peeking at the bodies. On the floor were the thin man, the big man, a random teenage boy, and Hinata. The thin man's arms were gone, the big man's head and feet were gone, the random boy's legs were gone, and Hinata's body was black. They were spread out, except Hinata's body was on top of the big man's body in a cross.

The body parts were also black and spread everywhere.

"What...happened?" Kiba asked. He continued to examine the bodies.

Gloo jumped out of Neji's arms and slithered over to his old master. The colors were fading from his clothes and that, too, turned into into goo. The other three bodies also faded to black like Hinata's body. Then they all turned to jelly.

"Are they all made out of goo? Like Gloo?"

"I...I don't know," Neji replied. "It seems like it."

"Not to interrupt or anything, but shouldn't we look for Naruto?" Shino suggested. Kiba and Neji looked up at Shino. He was right; they needed to look for their fourth teammate (excluding pets).

"However, we shouldn't _all _look for him. We still need to find Hinata," Shino added. Right again.

Neji took lead now. "Kiba and Akamaru, you'll look for Naruto. With your nose you'll find him easily. Shino and I will look for Hinata."

Kiba didn't argue. Neither did Akamaru. They nodded their heads and then headed deep into the forest.

Neji activated his Byakugan again, and Shino put his bugs to work right away.

* * *

With the wind, Kiro was able to hear the footsteps of many people coming towards them.

"Damn, they found us!" he said. "Jug, make copies of us; I'll make a platform." Jug quickly did as he was told. He finished just as Kiro was done with the wind platform. He had created exact copies of everybody in the cave out of his own goo. He told them directions, and the copies (except the sleeping copy of Hinata) nodded in understandment. They walked over to the platform and got on.

"Okay, now let's use the secret passage. You remember where that is, right?" Kiro was talking to Ryu.

Ryu looked at him, then his brows came together in a frown. "Of course. I _am _the leader of this mission."

Kiro rolled his eyes and Jug ignored him as he went to pick up the unconcsious body of Hinata.

Ryu walked over to the back of the cave where his fake bed was. In fact, everything was fake here. Everything was made out of goo, except for this back wall.

He moved the bed away and tapped on the wall three times. The wall slid open to the side, revealing a dark narrow passage. Ryu stared at it for a long time, until Kiro suddenly pushed him.

"Hurry up! They're here!"

With that, he, Kiro, Jug, and Hinata (who was again carried over his shoulder) walked in the passageway.

After the last person stepped inside, the wall slid closed.

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**Please Review!**

**HAPPY NEW YEAR, you guys!  
For those who celebrate this, I know it's somewhere in February, but HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!  
Did you know we won't see an 08 or 09 or 0-anything when we're writing dates until 2100?  
WHOAH! **


	10. The Back Wall

**To Hadious: I read your story but couldn't review (anonymous reviews disabled). So I'll review here. It'll be at the bottom.**

**WOOHOO! It's the 10th -- oh no! I shouldn't mention anything! Let's move on to the disclaimer, QUICKLY!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

**

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Chapter 10: The Back Wall

Kiba shook Naruto gently and told him to wake up. When he didn't see Naruto even stir, he shook more vigorously. He still didn't wake up. Finally, Kiba gave up on the "wake him up nicely" manner and just slapped Naruto across the face. With this, Naruto jolted upright.

"Hinata!" was his first cry. When he saw everything around him green, he kind of panicked, until he remembered that he fell from the sky. Why? Oh yeah, he was trying to punch that guy who was carrying Hinata. Seeing Hinata in another man's arms angered Naruto, even if he was a lot older than both of them, maybe even combined.

He looked at his surroundings once more, and finally spotted Kiba and Akamaru, Kiba having a quizzical look. "What happened back there?" he asked as he helped his temporary teammate get up. "You went right through him, and you even made his head explode!" Kiba was trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't work on Naruto for some reason.

Naruto got the joke, but he didn't feel like laughing. It actually made him sadder, and angrier. He so _badly _wanted to feel hard bone on his knuckles. If those jerks wanted to kidnap Hinata, they'd have to go through serious pain first! But instead, he felt soft gushy stuff. Instead, he was punching a fake. He wanted to scream.

"We need to catch up with the others," Kiba interrupted Naruto's thoughts.

"Uh, yeah," Naruto replied, and they both ran back to their other two teammates.

---

"The mountain is real; it's real, but fake," Neji said. "Get it?"

Naruto scratched his head. The Hyuga sighed. "You can touch it, so it's real. But it's not a mountain," he explained.

"Why isn't it a mountain?" Kiba cut in.

"When I activated my Byakugan, I tried to look through the mountain. What I saw, though, disturbed me even more. I couldn't see through the mountain, but I saw chakra flowing through it. It's similar to Jirobo's jutsu. Remember that time we were inside that rock?"

"Yeah!" both Kiba and Naruto answered.

"I don't, because I was never in the team," Shino looked like he wasn't paying attention, but actually he was listening to every word.

His teammates ignored him. Neji continued to explain: "That mountain also has chakra flowing through it, but it doesn't seem as if someone is controling it. It seems that it can control itself; like it's alive or something."

Neji, Naruto, and Kiba thought for a moment.

"So it's like Gloo," Shino suddenly said. The three looked at him. Of course!

Neji looked at his new pet. He's started to get close to him. Gloo was inside the cave. He knew everything here, except those black sticks and that back wall there, were made from the same substance he is. He was looking at that back wall. His master notices his staring and walked up to him. "What is it, Gloo?" He said it! His master actually said his name! His new name! It felt so good! He wanted to jump up and down at this, but he thought his new master would get angry at him for this. The last time he jumped for joy his old master threatened to throw him into lava. So he contained himself and glided over to the back wall.

Neji followed Gloo, along with Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru, and Shino. Gloo sniffed the wall like a dog, which confused Akamru. Only his species can catch scents, right?

Suddenly, the creature remembered passing through here. He remembered, and there was no big cave surrounding it. He tried to remember what his old master did. Thinking, thinking, got it!

Gloo formed a hand on the side of his snail-like body. He tapped the ground three times. At first, his friends didn't get any of this. But then the boy that was the dog's owner widened his eyes.

"I think he says to stomp in the ground three times!" he cried. All four boys started stomping three times, not in unison. Nothing happened. After a few confusing talks, Kiba suggested that only one person do it. He nominated himself. He stomped on the ground three times. Nothing.

Gloo waved his gooey hand. They looked down at him. He formed his hand into a fist, and knocked the wall three times. The door didn't opened because it only responds to solid contacts. He was too soft for the door to notice.

Now Neji understood. "Someone has to knock the wall three times." Gloo jumped up and down, forgetting about his past; he had a feeling his new master wouldn't mind him doing this.

"Okay, Neji, knock the door," said Kiba, who was disappointed that he wasn't able to interpret what Gloo was doing. He always thought of himself as those types who understands nature, but is Gloo even nature? If he was, nothing in nature will ever make sense to him again.

"Actually," Neji started, "I think Naruto should do it." He stepped to the side to let Naruto get closer to the door.

"R-Really?!" Naruto was surprised. Why did Neji do this? Oh well, it was his chance again to save Hinata. This time, he'll make no mistake!

* * *

She moaned softly and stirred. However, she was stuck. Stuck to what? A cold, hard, stone floor. She couldn't get up. The thing that was around her was stuck to the floor. Great, just great.

Her left cheek hurt, badly. If she looked in a mirror, she's sure to see it swollen. She thought she could even feel a few loose teeth. That guy, Jug, really is strong.

The good thing is that her bad cheek was on the cool floor, which both hurt and felt good. She tried to at least turn around. Nope.

Everything around Hinata was dark, although she could see a dim light. It was a torch lit with fire attached to a wall on the left side of her. It was a long way across, though. Then, a second torch lit up on the other side. When that lit up, the rest of the torches were alit with fire, like magic. Now she can see better, and take in her surroundings a little better.

It was a stone room. It was rectangular, too. She was lying on one side of the room, on the side where she could see all the way across to the other side. Well, there was a stone throne blocking the other side, but she can see that there's something dark behind that throne. Wait, a throne?

There was a large chair carved out of fine rock. It had no legs, but it was tall. It was also simple. The back of the throne was just a big slab. The sides where one puts his arms on were great big blocks of stone on top of another block of rock as the chair.

The throne was sitting on top of two stone platforms. The bottom one was the biggest, reaching the left and right sides of the room. The platform where the throne was sitting on was smaller, just reaching halfway from the wall to the throne.

Hinata knew she was far away, but she can already tell that that throne was big. _Very _big. Maybe that's why she couldn't see the little person sitting on the throne.

There was a little man sitting on the stone chair, but his size was compared to the size of the chair. In reality, he's probably slightly taller than Hinata. He was sitting in a fashion where he's leaning to one side, holding his head with a hand, and tapping his index finger with the other on the other side. The man was, even with all the torches, covered in shadows, so Hinata couldn't get a good look at him.

"Wh-who are you?" she managed to ask. Suddenly, the figure jolted. Even with the shadows, she could tell he was grinning as he clapped his hands together.

"Good, you're awake," he said. He had a very deep voice, but it was a familiar voice. "I'll tell you my real name later, but Jug and Kiro call me Master."

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**Please Review!**

**This is also a chapter with some last minute thoughts. I knew I shouldn't have mentioned anything!  
And I didn't read this one over, since I was kind of in a hurry for something. So it might have mistakes.  
**

**Below is the review for Hadious; if you're not Hadious, you don't have to read it.**

**Hadious: The first chapter of your story was kind of confusing, since I had no idea what was going on. Then I read the second chapter...which was AMAZING!!! I especially loved the fighting scene! And the wings! ~Sighs in happiness (I love wings)~****. Keep up with the good work (two thumbs up)! Actually, I may get some ideas from your fighting scene, since a fight will come up in mine; is that okay? If it's not, I totally understand!**


	11. Master's Plans

**Hello, Readers! That's all I'm gonna say.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, period.**

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Chapter 11: Master's Plans

"What do you want with me?" Hinata asked, still trying to sound brave.

"I want you for my collection," the figure answered in that deep familiar voice.

Collection? What was he talking about?

She was going to ask, but he beat her to it. "What's my collection, you ask? Well, it's my pride and joy!" he grinned even larger and then his smile disappeared. "And it's the only thing I can do to keep myself busy. When you've been banished to this place," - he waved his arms around to indicate the stone room - "you have to find _something_ to keep from boredom!"

"Wh-what's your collection?"

The figure looked at her for a moment. "Don't you think it's too dark here?" he changed the subject. He picked up something that was sitting on his lap. He put it up near his mouth and talked into it. "Kiro, I want more light!"

"O-okay, Master!" was the reply. Hinata found that that was a walkie-talkie he was speaking into.

She heard something moving on the ceiling. Above them, two pairs of feet were quickly jogging to the middle of the roof. The middle of the roof was just the middle from Hinata to the stone throne. Something big was being moved. Hinata looked up to see faint light coming through a crack. The crack became bigger until the whole room was finally filled with more of the sun's rays. The thing that was on top was actually another huge stone tablet that covered the rectangle hole used as "more light." The hole was big; it was about the size of the second platform the throne was sitting one.

The light hurt Hinata's eyes, even though she'd only been in the darkness for a few minutes. She forced herself to get used to it again then looked back down. She could finally see what the Master's face looked like, and it shocked her.

It was an older version of Ryu.

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**Please Review!**

**I'm just kidding; this isn't really the end, but I do think that there needs to be a little break here, to get you guys all tense.  
It's okay, you can skip this.  
****By the way, the figure is about mid-40's  
I'm not really good at describing things as you might have noticed the past chapters. Just try to imagine it as best you can!**

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"Ryu..." Hinata whispered.

"What's that, girl?"

"Are you Ryu's father?"

The Master laughed. "No, I _am _Ryu!"

This shocked Hinata even more. What was he talking about? He couldn't be that boy from the woods. Ryu was young and this one was...old.

As if reading her mind, he asked, "Oh, are you looking for this Ryu?" He pointed to the left of Hinata. Hinata tilted her head back and saw a tall figure. The man looked proffessional, having his hands behind his back and looking straight ahead. However, he looked down at her for a moment, so she could see his face. It was Ryu. The one she met in the forest.

He was wearing dark clothes, not the clothes he first wore. She tilted her head back down.

Hinata felt like crying. She had trusted him so much, and then he turned out to be with the kidnappers. A tear dropped on to the floor before the Master continued.

"That Ryu is fake. He's just made out of my special jutsu. He's the younger me, when I was about your age."

"I'm asking you again," Hinata said, anger replacing hurt. "What do you want with me?" Her teeth were clenched to keep from suddenly sobbing.

"I told you: for my collection. Ah, you mean why you're a part of this?" older Ryu's evil smirk once again formed on his face. "You see, I'm collecting people with Kekkei Genkai."

Hinata's eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. Wasn't she...?

"And the Byakugan is the only one I don't have."

Even though the girl wasn't looking at him, he could still see that she was very surprised. He was so excited to have finally completed his collection that he almost missed what the Byakugan girl asked.

"Why me?"

(Real) Ryu frowned once again. He was getting tired of all the explanations. "You're a Hyuga, right? The Hyuga has those special branches thing and that seal of yours. I've always loved the Byakugan and its incredible powers! So I wanted to study it. I finally found a man who had the eyes, so I 'invited' him over. I studied him. When they found out about my work, they banished me! Banishment!" he said this as if he went to jail because he smashed an insect.

"I was sent to this room for an eternity, and I was bored beyond my years! I explored the surroundings around me. I know every tree and boulder in this area. After three years, I met Kiro. He was also banished here because he's been murdering families for their money. We formed a partnership and I showed him my jutsu while he showed me his. One day he asked me what we should do. I had no answer. Then I thought about starting a collection! I was going to collect leaves, but he said that was too boring. So I told him about the famous Byakugan and he suggested to start collecting Kekkei Genkai. That was genius! He said that since it was my idea to start the collection, I should be the leader. Meanwhile, he'll go get the things I would need for my collection.

"I told him to get me a person with a Byakugan. So, without permission, he sneaked out of our 'prison' one night and managed to capture a Hyuga man. When I killed him to get the eyes, the Byakugan was suddenly gone! It was just a regular eye!"

Killed?

"Kiro tried again and got a woman this time. I did the same treatment, and her Byakugan vanished also! Then I noticed that this woman had the same green mark on her forehead as the man. So I studied it. Turns out that the seal will seal away the person's Byakugan when dead! I was so frustrated with this. After calming me down, Kiro told me that they should collect something else first, so I let him kidnap other people with a Kekkei Genkai. After five years of collecting, Kiro died fighting an Uchiha. How did I know this news? I was there with him." Ryu looked down at his lap, remembering the times.

This wasn't making sense to Hinata, though. Wasn't he just calling Kiro over the radio?

The man took a deep breath and continued his story. "With my special jutsu, I was able to make another of him, and a companion to go along with him. I continued collecting after ten years, took a three year break for my collection was almost done, and then started again. This time, I was after the Byakugan. Only members of the Main house have no seals, and I found a nearby village that contained the Hyuga. So new Kiro and Jug flew to there for me and spied on your clan."

_And this time they got me, _the collectee thought. Everything was beginning to feel hopeless. Hinata tried to hide her face as much as possible, because she didn't want the two Ryus to see her crying.

Then, Hinata heard a faint scream. It was faint, but it echoed through the hallway that she just noticed that was near her feet. It echoed all the way through and into the room.

"RASENGAN!"

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"WHAT THE HECK DID YOU DO THAT FOR, NARUTO?!" Neji shouted.

"You saw how it couldn't open! I had to do something!" Naruto argued back.

"You didn't have to smash the wall!"

"Why not?!"

"You ruined our surprise tactic!"

Naruto shut up. He forgot about that. He was just so excited about finally saving Hinata.

"Never mind," Shino cut in. "We need to go in now."

They ran through the dark hallway, seeing a bright light at the end.

Back in the room, the back wall that was a door flew in, all crumbled in pieces and smoke lifting out. Ryu stood up from his throne.

"What's all this commotion?!" he asked.

The fake Ryu automatically blocked the entrance on the hallway. Hinata tried as hard she could to see what was happening.

Naruto, being in front, was the first to notice a person blocking the light.

"Hey!" he shouted. "Move out of the way!" The person didn't move.

He didn't have time for this; he really needed to get Hinata back.

So, without thinking, he clenched his fists, and once more puched the person blocking the way to his friend.

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**Please Review!**

**This time it's the real thing.  
I didn't know how to end this one, well actually I did but then I'd have to create more scenes and I was just too lazy to. -_-  
Anyway, I'll tell you a secret:  
I have no idea how to end this story.  
I don't think that far ahead. I just think about the next chapter.**

**If you got confused on (real) Ryu's past, don't worry about it. I got confused too.**


	12. Real Hinata Back in Konoha 2

**This time I put in two scenes in one chapter. Hope I do good.  
Disclaimer: I will never own Naruto unless I buy him off of Kishimoto**

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Chapter 12: Real Hinata/Back in Konoha 2

He went through.

He went right through like that time he tried to punch that other guy.

And since he was running 500 miles per hour, he ran smack on to the body, causing both of them to hit the ground, with Naruto on top.

Naruto's hand was still in a fist, and as he opened his eyes, he saw he was laying on top of a body with no head.

"Aaah!" he cried. He frantically scrambled up.

As his other three teammates looked down at the body, Naruto took in his surroundings: a strange stone room with torches lined up on its walls. He saw a big hole on top that had the sunlight shining through. And of course, he couldn't miss the big throne sitting in the middle of the room all high and mighty. He was about to study the man sitting on it with his mouth widely open when he heard a familiar voice squeaking behind him.

"Naruto?" Hinata said it softly, but the ninja heard it.

To him, it's the sound he'd been wanting to hear. He turned around quickly, and there on the floor was Hinata Hyuga. Emotions flooded in his mind: happiness, excitment, joy, nervousness, and...love.

Hinata was even more happy. Here he was, her knight in shining armor! She couldn't hold back the tears anymore. They went pouring out. She remembered everything that happened for the past three days: the abducting, the fall, the tree, the meeting, the laughter, the clothes, the confusion, the finding out, and finally the betrayal. It was too many things for Hinata to hold on to. So she let it all out.

Naruto immediately jumped over to her side (he had to jump over the body). Meanwhile the guys were also huddling around the Hyuga girl. Ryu was still sitting on his throne with his mouth open, but when he saw them fled to the girl he called in Kiro and Jug.

"Hinata! I'm so glad you're safe!" Naruto cried out. Neji and Kiba voiced their comments also. As for Hinata, she was to happy to speak.

"Wait," Shino suddenly said. "How do we know that's the real Hinata?" His three partners looked at him questionally, and even Hinata. "Think about it, how do we know it isn't just another fake? The last one was a fake. Plus, it was too easy to find her."

The boys thought this over, Naruto sneaking glances back at Hinata. How could she be an impostor? Her face was practically covered with salty tears.

Kiba sniffed at her. "She...smells like Hinata. But there's also weird scents in there also: gasoline and some weird flowers."

"The only way we know it's truly Hinata without hurting her," Neji said, taking charge, "is to ask her to say something only the true Hinata can say." This seemed like a good idea.

All four boys looked at the girl on the floor. They were all waiting for her answer.

Hinata of course heard this. While her cousin said this, she was already thinking of something to say.

Then she thought of one. She looked at the blonde ninja who was the closet to her. "Naruto, I..."

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**I had to have something to keep your minds off what Hinata is about to say!  
Guess what it is!  
Disclaimer 2: I don't own Naruto**

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Back in Konoha 2

Even though it's only been three days, Tsunade was getting worried.

She looked out the big window that stood behind her, and sighed.

With Naruto, Neji, Kiba, and Shino all on the same team, they should be unstoppable!

They should have gotten home by...yesterday.

What's taking them so long? Tsunade loved her peace, very much, but something needs to be done.

"Shizune!" she called to which the medical ninja immediately appeared, with her faithful Tonton in her arms (**I just love that little guy!**).

"Yes, M'lady?" she answered.

"Call for the back up team."

"Already? You just finished informing Hanabi a couple of hours ago!"

"Yes I know, but I'm...worried about Hiashi. He might be missing his daughter greatly. I know I would."

Shizune looked at her teacher, confused. She soon figured it out while she was walking out the office door.

_Worried about Hiashi, hmph! She misses Naruto!_

---

"Now that you mention it, you did not sound like yourself," the guard replied.

Hiashi had been interrogating the same guard who talked to him earlier (**wow, was it only early that day?**) to find out about the impostor (Hiashi was sure it was some kind of transformation). He didn't get any progress, until he said this.

"And how did I sound?"

"How would you put it...I guess you kind of sounded like a robot." The guard at once regretted what he said. He had just insulted Lord Hiashi.

However, this is just what the Head wanted. "Keep going," he said, oblivious to the watch's fear.

"Um, you said everything like they were syllables, or something."

"Tell me, how did this conversation go again?"

The guard sighed. For the third time he'd have to replay the talk.

"After you left, you came back again. You told us that there's too many guards and that we can have the day off."  
"Since the other guards and I were really tired, we decided not to argue."

The guard paused. This is where Lord Hiashi usually starts talking again, saying that they shouldn't have done that.

He didn't speak.

Hesitantly, he started again. "We all left; meanwhile you were still standing on the same spot."

"What did I look like when I was standing there?" asked Hiashi.

The watchman still thought this whole thing was weird. Why did Lord Hiashi have to ask _him _questions about _himself?_

"Tell me something that was strange of me," the head added. "Like if I still had on my backpack."

This time the guard's eyes lit up. "You didn't! You didn't have a backpack!"

This was it. The clue Hiashi had been waiting for. "Thank you for this talk; you may continue with your duty."

* * *

Real Hinata _continued..._

"Naruto, I--"

She was interrupted when Jug and Kiro jumped inside the room from the hole above. Even though they entered quietly, Akamaru still smelled them.

"Bark!"

Kiba turned around, and so did the others. "Hey! It's that fat guy and skinny guy that we saw on that wind!"

"Fat?"

"Skinny?"

Now they were angry. Master called them to fight some intruders for him, but now it was personal.

They were both about to perform some jutsus when Ryu stopped them. "Jug, Kiro, you know you can't fight in here! My collection is in here!"

Even though that was an order that they could've ignored, they obeyed. They knew that if the collection was ruined, so will be their lives, if they'll still have lives!

"Come," said Kiro, "let's take this outside." He pointed towards Shino. "I pick you as my opponent!"

Shino raised an eyebrow. Pick?

Jug pointed to Kiba. "You called me fat! You're mine!"

Kiba didn't argue. "Let's go!" he said with a grin. "Akamaru!" His always faithful dog barked and trotted to his side.

Kiro and Jug jumped back up through the hole, and Shino, Kiba, and Akamaru followed. Now it was just Naruto, Hinata, Neji, Ryu, and fake Ryu.

_Where's Gloo?_ Neji asked himself. He looked around, but he couldn't find him anywhere. His search was interrupted when Naruto tapped his shoulder.

"How do we free Hinata?" Naruto asked, showing him the sticky goo.

"We still don't know if she's the real one," he answered, still trying to look for Gloo.

Hinata activated her Byakugan. "If I'm a fake, I can't do this."

Neji saw. So it was her. He smiled. He lifted his hand that was soon covered in thin chakra. When he put his hand near the goo, Master shouted behind them.

"YOU ARE NOT TO TOUCH HER!! Do you know how long I've tried to search for her?! Get away!" he stood up, but that was all.

Naruto didn't like the way this guy was talking. He stood up also. "Look pal, I don't know how you know Hinata, but I'm not letting you take her away!" His eyes were turning red, but not as much. It was just enough for him to feel a little of the fox's chakra flowing in him. Faster than lightning, he appeared in front of Ryu. "You and I will settle this. Which one of us will get Hinata?"

* * *

**Please Review!**

**The continuation: _really _rushed.  
I had to go somewhere, so I didn't really put in all my thoughts.  
I didn't even check for grammar/puncuation/spelling errors.  
I think I'm getting worse! I need to find a time where I can actually take my time!  
Oh well...sigh.  
**

**If you go to my profile, you'll see a poll. Be sure to vote on it!  
(Poll may change)**


	13. Gloo and Neji

**Here we are in the next chapter!  
I had some time to write this, SOME! It's still not my best.  
But whatever.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

Chapter 13: Gloo and Neji

Hinata was finally free of the goo that covered her. It was actually quite simple: all Neji did was touch his chakra-covered palm on the goo for a while until it started shivering and practically flew off Hinata and onto the stone ceiling above.

After a few hugs and smiles, Hinata returned her gaze back where Naruto and new Ryu was supposed to be. However, they weren't there. The throne was still there, but neither person was in sight.

Neji had also turned around and was looking for Gloo. He didn't know why he cared so much, but he just wanted to find him. Where was he?

_A few while back..._

As soon as Gloo had arrived on the scene, he saw the blonde ninja fall on the ground. He came for a closer look, but then he saw his old master's master. His face was in a shock, staring at the blonde ninja. Pretty soon, though, he looked at him. His eyes widened a little more than how wide it already was, but his open mouth slightly softened. His eyes became peircing, and hypnotic.

Gloo's mind became blank.

Then, he felt himself crawling back into the hallway. He didn't understand why, but he knew he wasn't doing it on purpose. He stopped when he was completely inside the shadows of the passageway. He then climbed up on the wall and disguised himself so that he was unnoticable, not that anyone will notice him when he's as dark as the night. He waited there, and the whole time he was trying to find out what he was doing.

When he found his chance, still confused, he jumped back down and moved toward the lifeless body of Ryu...

_Now..._

Neji was getting scared; maybe something happened to him? What if, in all the confusion, and him being small and on the ground, someone accidentally stepped on him? He shook his head; no, Gloo can protect himself. He examined the boy with no head, but he wasn't there. He looked at the throne, and that's when he saw Hinata staring at the throne also.

"Lady Hinata, are you okay?" he asked his cousin.

With a sigh, Hinata answered, "Yes." Then she looked at him. "What are you looking for?" Hinata could see that her older cousin was frantically searching for something.

Neji, on the other hand, was surprised she noticed. "Uh, something. Where's Naruto?"

"That's what I'm wondering."

"Where did you get those clothes?"

Hinata remembered she was still making the makeshift shirt and pants that fake Ryu made her. She now looked at them and remembered how he seemed so nice back then. However, she pushed the thoughts out; he's evil now. "Um, from Ryu, the man you just saw."

Neji nodded, sensing that Hinata doesn't want to talk about it. Instead, he took off his backpack, opened it, and took out the clothes that he brought with him. He handed it to her.

Hinata put on a smile. "Thank you, Neji."

"No problem; now hurry and change into your clothes. You're going to need them when we fight," Neji also smiled.

After a quick hug of thanks Hinata went behind the throne where there was darkness. The genius Hyuga then resumed looking for his lost pet. He had the idea that maybe he stayed behind and is still in the cave. So he decided to just do a quick look-around in the hallway. He walked all the way in.

While he was walking, he remembered he had the Byakugan. What the heck was he doing?! Why was he having a hard time looking for him? He was a _Hyuga, _master of the Byakugan. He should have no problem finding Gloo since he was practically all chakra inside. With a small smile on his lips, he returned to the main room.

But when he was there, he found the boy (Ryu?) on his hands and knees. He seemed to be trying to stand up. But he shouldn't. He should be dead, right? He's nothing but that goo stuff that's like Gloo. Why was he alive again?

Ryu stood up, his back to Neji. He moved his hands, arms, and legs. He was testing everything. After all, Gloo has never had a body before.

* * *

Hinata had finished changing into her favorite ninja clothes, but she didn't want to go back into the bright room. She was curios about the dark side of the rectangular room. A little ways in front of her, she saw the corners of the wall having crumbling rocks. That must have meant that there used to be a wall there, but was taken down. She walked in deeper.

Now it was completely pitch black. She looked behind her and she could make out the now faint light of the sun that the throne blocked. She walked to one of the sides of the wall. She reached out to touch it.

It was cold, and it didn't feel like stone. It was smooth, not like the rough rocks that was in the other room. She knocked on it.

It sounded like glass: thin and hard. She put her face right up at it to see it better. Even though it was still so dark that when you closed your eyes, that would be brighter, she thought she could see something inside. She tried to examine it a little more, but then she heard a crash from the main room.

* * *

Gloo/Ryu turned to face Neji, whose white eyes were wide with surprise.

Gloo still didn't know why he was doing this. Something else was controlling him.

He got in a fighting position, and that's when he got scared. Was he about to fight his master?

Neji also got in a fighting stance, Byakugan ready. He can find Gloo later.

"I don't know why you're standing again," he said, "but I'm going to take you down."

Gloo opened his mouth to talk, not that that will help him. All the times he's started talking, no one can understand him.

"Master, I'm not doing this."

Both the speaker and the listener were surprised. Had he just talked? Why was that boy calling him "Master?"

Neji was the first to snap out of this. "I don't know what you just said, but I'm still going to fight."

Hearing his master's response, Gloo started to speak again. "Master, it's me. You named me Gloo." Gloo wanted to move his hands, but he wasn't controlling them. But he should. He's the one who attached himself to the body. So why wasn't he able to move? He then figured out that the only part that he can control is his mind. Everything else was...not his doing.

Neji gasped a quick gasp. Gloo? He didn't look anything like Gloo. He's supposed to be like a big black blob. He then remembered the figures that were on the wind platform. When they dropped, they turned into the black substance like Gloo. Maybe... But he still wasn't sure. After all, the boy's mouth was only moving and the face didn't change. Maybe it was a trick.

Ryu suddenly gave a fast punch, which Neji dodged at the last minute. Okay, the battle now started.

With a small but deadly concentration of chakra on his two fingers, Neji struck the boy right in the middle of his stomach, sending him to the wall behind, causing it to break and reveal the woods beyond it.

* * *

**Please Review!**

**This was meant to be _a lot_ longer, but I only had a limited amount of time.  
I wasn't really rushed, but I knew I couldn't put in everything.  
So I hope it's still good!  
Sorry, everyone!**


	14. Battles

**The upcoming scene is NOT NejiHina, but I will tell you something about them from my opinion.  
****I love the Byakugan and Hyuga Clan (not their rules), so I love both Hinata and Neji.  
I love seeing them work together as Hyuga partners.  
****If they weren't related, I might support a pairing like that, but I would support NaruHina more.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

Chapter 14: Battles

Hinata quickly ran to the sound of the crash. When she got there, she found Neji in a striking pose and a crashed wall across from him.

"Neji, what happened?" she asked as she looked at the wall.

"That Ryu guy: he's alive again," Neji answered.

"But, I thought he was fake!"

"Apparantly, he found another way to revive himself." Inside, Neji was still thinking about what the boy said. It called him master, and he said he was Gloo. That can't be right; he started attacking him. But then again, Gloo is nowhere to be found. For a genius, this was hurting his mind.

Hinata stepped over the fallen rocks from the damage. Suddenly, on instinct she quickly dodged to the right. Her instinct was right as a kunai knife went slicing through the air. However, Neji was somehow distracted, and didn't dodge. With a movement as fast as how Naruto moved earlier, she jumped in front of him.

That hit could have killed Neji instantly, for it was aimed at his heart perfectly. If Hinata hadn't acted as a shield, he would be falling to the ground by now.

Her purple jacket was stained red as blood slipped from the wound. Neji, who had finally snapped from his thoughts after seeing his cousin appear in front of him, watched as he saw blood also dripping from her mouth.

Hinata knew that the knife would hit the heart, so she didn't face it. Instead, she had her back to it and her face facing Neji. She felt a shock of pain as the kunai knife hit her right shoulder blade. Trying not to cry out, all she could do was wince.

Neji, though, was the one who cried out. "Hinata!" He caught her when she fell towards him.

There were footsteps that were soon revealed to be Ryu's, who had a look of horror on his face. Gloo can finally control his head, but not his actions.

"Master, I'm so sorry! That wasn't me!" he said.

Neji wasn't listening. He was still trying to look at Hinata's wound. Nevertheless he wasn't a medical ninja, so he didn't know if it was serious or minor.

A tiny tear formed on the bottom of his eye. He then felt a soft hand on his shoulder.

"Neji it's okay, we'll handle it from here."

The Hyuga looked up to see two beautiful brown eyes. It was Tenten, and behind her were Sakura and Hanabi.

* * *

"You fight good," Kiba said, panting. He and Akamaru were facing Jug.

"You aren't bad yourself," replied Jug.

As soon as they left the room, Jug and Kiro, and Kiba and Shino parted. Jug and Kiba went far into the forest on left, while the same thing happened to Shino and Kiro but on the right.

Once they found a nice clearing, they started an intense battle. Both men had equal strenghts, so neither has lost yet.

Kiba formed the tiger hand sign. "Ninja Art: Man Beast Clone!" Akamaru turned into a perfect copy of his owner. They both then crouched down. "Fang Over Fang!" The air spinned around them and they made one big sharp tornado that was forcing its way towards Jug.

"Ninja Art: Giant Black Spike Jutsu!" Jug cried as a huge blob that quickly turned into a giant thorn formed from his outstretched hand. The goo hardened, and it was soon as hard as brick. Both jutsus sped toward each other.

But just before they met, the thorn suddenly turned back to goo and splattered itself on Kiba and Akamaru.

Both boys fell to the ground, Akamaru back in his dog form.

They were stuck to the ground with Jug's strongest goo yet.

* * *

Kiro was just getting started.

He was already in the lead against his bug-using opponent. He was weak!

However, he didn't know that Shino was actually making himself appear weak. He had a plan already thought up.

After a few minutes analyzing his foe, he was able to find his weakness. Using this as an advantage, he started saving his strenght and chakra, for when the right moment comes that's when he'll strike.

"Ninja Art: Tornado Vaccum!"

A tornado formed on the ground. It was small at first but it grew larger. It formed on the middle of the battlefield where Shino and Kiro were standing on.

As soon as it was large enough, the tornado started sucking in everything: trees, rocks, ground, and including Shino. The only thing it didn't suck up was its creator.

Shino was plunged into the swirling wind vortex, unable to escape.

* * *

The back up squad was here already?

It took Neji's team a day to reach this place! How on earth could they have gotten here so fast?!

Tenten seemed to read Neji's mind. "Lady Tsunade used a transportation jutsu on us." (**I saw this episode where a transportation jutsu was used on Katsuya by Tsunade to transport her to Sakura and her team. They only mentioned it, so I don't know how it works.**)

Meanwhile, Sakura took Hinata from Neji's arms and examined the wound herself. The blood-stained kunai knife lay on the ground next to Neji.

Hanabi was staring at the teenager that was holding on to the side of the hole in the wall. He had a terrified look on his face. _He should be! _thought Hanabi. _He almost killed my sister!_

"The injury is deep, but I should be able to heal it," said Sakura. She carefully set Hinata, who was unconscious, down on her stomach.

With the cold stone on her cheek, Hinata's eyes fluttered open. Her first thought was that she fainted...again! She fainted when she was kidnapped and when she was re-kidnapped! This has got to stop!

She scrambled to get up, and when she did, she felt a pang of pain on her back and fell back down.

"Whoah, careful Hinata! Your wound will open up!" the medical ninja warned.

The wounded was surprised to hear Sakura's voice. "S-Sakura, what are you doing here?" she tried to speak, but it came out silently, a little above a whisper.

Upon hearing her sister's voice, Hanabi ran over to her side. (**The past chapters, I've been making Hinata seem as if she always needs help. What do you think?**)

"Hinata, are you okay?" she anxiously asked.

Hinata was even more surprised to hear her little sister's voice.

"We're a back-up team," Sakura answered the Hyuga heiress's question that was asked earlier.

Back-up team? So it's a mission? If so, what was Hanabi doing on a mission like this? Hinata was about to ask all these questions, but Sakura shushed her.

"Don't talk; I need to heal your wound." Sakura's hands glowed a light green as she put it on top of her patient's shoulder blade.

The Hyuga girl relaxed a little.

Meanwhile, Neji, Tenten, and Hanabi were all glaring at Ryu. With the confusion and the attention all at the girl, Gloo had used the time to try and control the rest of his body, but no success. When he saw all the mean eyes looking at him, he got scared again.

All three Konoha ninjas thought it was awkward when the teenage boy took up a confident fighting position but a face of that of a coward.

"Tenten," he muttered to his teammates, "Lady Hanabi, we need to take this fight somewhere else, for the sake of Hinata."

The two agreed.

Then all three ran towards Ryu, who was now backing away. He jumped through the trees with his pursuers close behind him.

Soon they found a clearing that was big enough for all four to fight.

Ryu took up the postition again, and so did his opponents.

The only thing bothering Tenten was that she didn't take up the Gentle Fist Style like her two teammates standing next to her. (**This is just a joke. It won't be a problem in the battle. It's just something to hopefully lighten the mood.**)

* * *

"You and I will settle this. Which one of us will get Hinata?"

As soon as he said this, Naruto took the front of real Ryu's shirt and he dragged him through the open ceiling.

When they were on the roof, Naruto threw Ryu down.

"Ugh!" the old man cried as he hit the floor of the roof.

"Just what do you want with Hinata, anyway?" Naruto asked harshly. His eyes were still a little orange so the fox hadn't completely taken him over, but he was angry enough to let some chakra slip through.

Old Ryu slowly stood up. "Young man, I don't want to battle here. My precious collection is down below."

Was he teasing him? This made the blonde ninja angrier. With a quick punch, he was able to send the man flying in the air and crash landing in the forest below.

After he heard the satisfying sound of trees breaking, he followed to where Ryu had landed.

* * *

**Please Review!**

**Wow, so many Ryu problems!  
Naruto's battle wasn't supposed to show yet.  
It was going to be on the next chapter, but this chapter was short, so I just put a little of it here.  
Warning: I am not good with battle scenes, so the next few chapters might not be good.**


	15. Situations

**Sorry I haven't updated in a _long_ time.  
I wasn't inspired this week.  
Maybe if I get more reviews...  
I'm kidding! X) But reviews would be great!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

Chapter 15: Situations

How can he escape this? This goo is extremely sticky.

"Akamaru," he called to his dog, "are you okay, buddy?"

"Arf!" Akamaru boomed back.

Jug walked over to where Kiba was with a big smile on his face.

"I was a bad opponent for you, Kiba," he leaned closer to the Inuzuka.

Kiba, however, had another plan. He remembered about their new friend, Gloo, and how he's the same goo as this one. If he was correct, he and his dog will be free in no time.

"Akamaru, start licking!" he said.

The great white dog looked at his master in complete horror. What had come over him? Lick it?

Jug also frowned. What was the boy up to?

Reluctantly Akamaruopened his mouth and let his tongue roll out. He pressed it on the goo that covered his paw and then brought it up. He shivered; he felt like a cat doing this. Plus it tasted like gasoline.

Jug tried to figure out what they were doing. All the dog was doing was just tasting his goo. What good will that do?

"Yeah, that's right," Kiba urged on his companion, "keep licking!"

Underneath him, Akamaru felt the goo shiver a little bit. Now he got it; he wanted his master to scare off the substance. Forgetting how bad it tasted, he licked faster.

"Yeah! You go boy!"

Jug also noticed how his jutsu that surrounded the dog was slowly backing away. He became furious. He quickly made more hand signs to prepare another attack.

However, on the last lick, Akamaru put on his wettest, grossest, and slimiest lick that he only does when he wants to lick Kiba. With one more big slurp, the goo ran away from him.

He was free. And now it was time to free his master.

Akamaru trotted over to him and did the same routine, except twice as fast.

Angry, Jug quit on the jutsu. Instead, he had another idea. It was time for the slime monster.

He bit the inside of his thumb, letting the blood flow down. He made signs only followed by a dojutsu and then smashed his hand on the ground. Spiderweb-like prints shot out from the dirt.

"Summoning Jutsu: Black Creature!"

* * *

It was suffocating him.

The wind around him swirled faster, and it seemed to be closing in on him.

Shino had no idea what was going on outside the tornado, but he hoped his bugs were able to follow his order.

They were, as they crawled on the branches. They were watching their owner do weird things.

He must not know that it was just an illusion.

The bugs looked down at the skinny man below them, leaning on the same tree. The first wave of bugs had already started the order.

Kiro had a huge grin on his face as he watched his weak opponent spin around like a lunatic. He just had to laugh!

He didn't notice, or feel, the microscopic bugs that were tickling down his neck.

The bugs were aiming to swarm his whole body, which will make him lose concentration on the illusion and break their home (**Yes, Shino is the bugs' home**) from it.

As soon as the first wave disappeared down the nape of the skinny man, the second army left. Then the third and fourth. All the bugs Shino had sent out were climbing down the sweaty path.

With so many bugs, Kiro had finally noticed his hair on the back of his neck felt strange, like something was tickling them. He clasped his hand on it.

Nothing was there, but he knew there was something.

Now they were near his stomach. It came up on his chest, down to his legs, right on his back, crawling on the sides, and even marching up to his neck.

What was going on? He scratched madly as he suddenly felt pangs of pain all over his body.

The bugs were biting him.

Meanwhile, the tornado around Shino had died out. When he was fully broken of the illusion, he dropped to his hands and knees, the experience of not breathing still fresh in his mind.

He looked through his dark glasses to see a furious Kiro dancing around with his hands everywhere.

"Enough!" he shouted. With a great explosion, Shino and his bugs were sent flying shortly across the field.

When they recovered, they met a new Kiro.

The very air around them seemed to grow thinner as a stronger, bigger, and faster Kiro absorbed them into his body.

* * *

"All done, Hinata," Sakura leaned back to let her friend stand up.

Slowly, Hinata got up. First on her hands and knees, then on to a crouch, and finally on her feet. She rolled her shoulder, checking to make sure that it really was healed. Sakura was amazing; it's like the wound was never there. She turned around smiling at her and hugging her. Sakura hugged her back, happy to help.

"Where are the others?" Hinata asked when they parted.

"They went somewhere outside, chasing this boy," the pink-haired kunoichi answered.

Hinata knew where Shino and Kiba were; now the only person left is...Naruto. What had happened to him? Where could he be now?

Sakura seemed to read her mind, because then she said, "We should look for him." She laid a hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

The Hyuga girl nodded.

* * *

Naruto was surprised how long he actually punched Ryu.

He knew that he sent him flying, but he didn't know it was this far. It had taken him a long time to find him.

Finally, he found some trees that had broken and fell. He followed them.

At the end of the long line of fallen down trees, a man was laying down on the ground.

Ryu Kato.

Renewed anger found its way into Naruto again and he ran over to the immobile body.

He examined the body, wondering why he wasn't waking up. Had he hit him too hard? Maybe hard enough to...?

A foot stepped out of the shadows of the trees behind Naruto. Another foot went with it, and then a body.

It was Ryu, alive and well.

Naruto looked back down at the figure. It was black and melting. Substitution.

Now ignoring the body, he fully turned around to face the old man. His eyes weren't red anymore, having controlled the fox while getting here. Nevertheless he was still angry and ready to fight.

But Ryu was in a calm state. His hands were behind his back as he stood straight and tall.

His gray robe flowed in the wind.

Naruto couldn't stand seeing him like that, all calm and innocent.

With an angry yell, he rushed forward.

He punched, but Ryu dodged that. He kicked, but Ryu back away. He sent another fleet of punches, which were all effortlessly dodged by his opponent.

"You lack patience," he said. "You need to slow down, my boy."

This only made Naruto punch faster. After his 100th punch, he jumped back. Close combat wasn't working on him.

He formed his fingers in that of a "t".

"Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Immediately, six Narutoes appeared in a puff of smoke.

Ryu couldn't tell which one was the real one, but he didn't care. "You know, this jutsuis for the weak," he said with his stoic face. All the Naruto were surprised to hear this.

"What are you talking about?!" one of them shouted.

The old man smiled. "When you create these clones, you're just trying to hide yourself. You think you're gaining an advantage by making more copies of yourself, but in reality, you're just scared to fight the opponent alone."

All the Naruto clones were now angry. They were just insulted. "That's it, pal!" they shouted. "You're going down!"

* * *

**Please Review!**

**I know: I haven't updated in a long time and when I finally do, it's a short chapter.  
I told you, I'm not really that inspired right now.  
It might even take a longer update after this one.**


	16. Naruto vs Ryu

**My computer was bugged with viruses, so I couldn't update this as fast as I wanted it too.  
Don't worry, though; it's been fixed.**

**I am HORRIBLE with fight scenes. You may be disappointed in this chapter.  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

* * *

Chapter 16: Naruto vs. Ryu

Ryu was surprised to see all the Naruto clones disappear.

They all disappeared right before his eyes, all in a puff of smoke.

When the mist cleared, only one Naruto was left.

He had a light orange glow around him. His blonde gair was a little messier, his nails were longer, his canine teeth were longer, his three marks on his face were bolder, and his eyes were red.

He had let the fox chakra flow as his normal chakra, but not enough to let him become the One-tailed.

"Get ready, old man!" he said. He dashed forward with a fist already in the air. Ryu barely had time to dodge it. He jumped back and to the right. He had to put more effort than usual.

Naruto knew he was going to dodge, so still in the air he brought his left foot around and swung it so it made contact with the side of his body. Ryu went crashing into the trees.

His old bones couldn't take that. He couldn't suffer another hit like that. He didn't imagine a scrawny teenager like him have a powerful kick like that. And there was something different about him. He seemed angrier, and have more chakra. Ryu can't hold back on him; he'd have to give it his all.

Naruto was already preparing an attack. He was already creating a dark blue Rasengan on his right hand, powered by the fox chakra. While it was swirling on his hand, he looked around for his opponent. He seemed to have gone. Wanting to save his chakra, he discharged the Rasengan. He walked over to where he should have landed. He wasn't there anymore. The broken trees were there, but the ground where it showed an imprint of something landing on it was empty. Suddenly, he heard something behind him. He turned around to see black spikes coming at him at 500km an hour. (**Exaggeration**) He dodged to the side where he landed in the darkness of the forest.

Ryu came out of the bushes he was hiding in. _So he's managed to dodge them,_ he thought. He looked at all of the spikes he'd shot. 1...2...3...4...5...6...20...

One was missing. He looked around for the last one, but it wasn't anywhere. He then saw a red spot on the ground. He crouched down to speculate it. Yes, it was blood_. Hmm, not all._

"Rasengan!"

Ryu turned around to see Naruto coming at him from the air with a ball of powerful chakra ready on his hand. Just before he landed on what would've been his heart, he jumped back.

For Naruto, this was bad. He had missed, and he had given most of his chakra on that Rasengan. He would need time to recover. Aware of his opponent's close presence, Naruto walked back to the clearing he and Ryu first fought in. He was holding his wounded shoulder, the shoulder where he was hit by one of this black spikes. He didn't know why, but he felt a hot pain there. It was spreading through his body, and he was more weak than usual.

"Feeling odd, my friend?" Ryu asked as he, too, stepped out of the shadows.

"Shut up! You and I aren't friends!" Naruto replied harshly.

The old man ignored the comment and continued, "That's because those black spikes were coated with poison. It's a type of poison that weakens your whole body if you use it for anything. Basically if you do anything, pretty soon, you won't be able to move at all. And you'll have a slow and painful death." He smiled cruelly as he said this.

Naruto panted hard. So that means the stronger his physical attacks, the weaker he'll be after the attack. Now _this _was bad.

Ryu made more hand signs. When he finished with tiger, he pointed his palm toward the sky. "Now, my friend, I'll make that slow and painful death go away. Ninja Art: Raining Black Needles!"

Naruto looked at the sky above him. He could just make out tiny dots forming. Soon those tiny dots became larger. They were longer, and sharper. They fell towards earth at an alarmingly fast rate.

Would this be the end of him?

* * *

Gloo couldn't fight his master anymore. He had to find a way to fully control this body.

Neji and Hanabi were panting hard from the attacks they made. All of their close combat were useless.

Tenten tried to do long range attacks, but that failed also. Gloo would either put a barrier of goo to stop it, or turn into goo himself and melt to the floor to avoid the hits.

Gloo knew that soon his master and his friends would be exhausted and not fight anymore. His uncontrolable body with a mind of its own would then take advantage of that and finish them off.

He was right, as he saw the young girl who looked like his master fall on her hands and knees.

"Lady Hanabi!" Neji crouched down next to her to see if his young cousing was all right. Tenten walked over to her also, examining her whole body, for she had some medical ninja knowledge of her own.

"She's very tired and almost out of chakra. She must've been fighting really hard," the tool-master commented.

Neji nodded without looking at her. Instead, he helped Hanabi to stand. "You need to rest, Hanabi," he comforted her. "Don't worry, we'll take care of this."

After a few coughs, Tenten helped the Hyuga girl walk over to a nearby tree. Meanwhile, Neji was watching Gloo, who was staying very still in the middle of the field. With his Byakugan, he could see that his chakra was, too, was being depleted.

This had to end now.

When Tenten was by his side, he leaned over to her. He whispered in her ear, "Do you see it, Tenten? He's kind of holding back."

The girl nodded, then whispered back, "I noticed he doesn't attack us very much, but just dodges our attack."

Neji had to think about his next information. If he told her, she'd think he's crazy; on the other hand, if he didn't tell her, they might never defeat him. He chose to tell her. "Tenten, this might sound weird but that boy over there is, I think, my pet."

Tenten gave him a look of pure confusion. "While on the mission, I met a small friend," he explained. "He kept following us, so we just decided to keep him and name him Gloo."

"So that boy followed you?"

"No! The thing that followed us was some kind of gooey substance."

"Then how come you said he was that boy?"

"He seems to have a body now, for some reason."

While Neji and Tenten were having this conversation, Gloo was trying to take control of his system. He's able to see, think, and feel. Now he needed to move on his own. He saw that his master and one of his friends were distracted, and the young girl was resting on a tree. He soon felt himself melt to the ground. When he was fully on the ground, he started seeping through the soil. What was his body doing? He traveled through the earth, past his master by going under him for some reason, and stopped near the girl resting on the tree. Still confused, he morphed back into his own body. Slowly, he was taking out a kunai knife from his bag.

Hanabi had fallen asleep, so she didn't know what was happening. Neji and Tenten had their backs to her, but they seemed to be in such deep conversation that they didn't notice Gloo disappearing.

Gloo raised the hand with the kunai knife high into the air. He was going to kill the Hyuga girl. No! He didn't want to do this!

"Master, help!" he cried. Neji turned around and his eyes widened in terror. How could he, second master of the Byakugan, miss something like this?! He stepped over, and found himself stuck to the ground. He looked at Tenten, but she was in the same condition. They both looked back at the fate of Hanabi.

Gloo still had the kunai knife in the air. He didn't want to strike down, but he didn't know how to stop it. His worst fear came when his arm was brought down.

Everything was in slow motion, as Neji cried, "Gloo! No! Don't do this! You're not like this! My pet is better than that!"

That cry. Just hearing his name shouted in a worried tone like that, gave him the strength to stop time. Well, to him it seemed as though time stopped, but in reality he had stopped his hand, which was centimeters from the Hanabi's heart.

* * *

"Protective Eight Trigrams 64 Palms!"

Naruto opened his eyes after closing them as tightly as he could. He briefly saw midnight blue hair on a lavender background before he was dragged away by someone. The someone had strong arms that picked him up and made his arm go around their neck. They were helping him walk. With Naruto still weakened, his eyes were blurry. He did see pink hair, though. The hair seemed familiar, and he thought of a girl, but this person had strong arms.

When he was being set down and leaned back against a tree, he felt the same strong hands covered in chakra gently placed over his wound. He started to feel much better. He turned to his helper. "Thanks Mister!" he smiled.

That thanks suddenly gave him a hard blow on the head. "What'd you call me, Naruto?!"

Uh-oh, that voice. It's usually from the someone who when he says something that's supposed to be funny, he'd get a hard punch.

"Oh, Sakura. Sorry."

* * *

**Please Review!**

**Hmm, there wasn't really a lot of fight in this chapter, was there?  
Hm, oh well.  
I did nothing to look over/revise this chapter, so there may be a few (or a lot) of mistakes.  
Please let me know!**


	17. Hinata's Strength

**I was strangely in a happy mood today.  
I don't know why.  
Disclaimer: I will never own Naruto**

* * *

Chapter 17: Hinata's Strength

Who's that girl blocking his attacks expertly? She looks familiar. Ryu couldn't really see the person behind the bright blue chakra defense. He didn't really care right now. Right now he was angry - angry that someone has managed to block his attack.

Finally, all the arrows were successfully dodged. That left a panting Hinata in the middle of the battlefield. Ryu's eyes widened to see his last collection standing up in front of him.

"Wha-? Why are you here?" he asked frantically. He could see she had some scratches, and scratches don't look good on an item you're putting up as one of your prized.

"I . . . managed to . . . find you . . . with my Byakugan," replied Hinata between pants. Finding Naruto and Ryu wasn't so easy as the two were a little over 11km, farther than Hinata's limits. She used up most of her chakra to try and go farther, and when she finally found them, she saw the two men fighting. So she and Sakura hurriedly left, using more of their chakra on their feet to gain more speed. And when they finally reached there, Hinata had to use her jutsu and protect Naruto.

She was exhausted!

Ryu smiled his crooked smile. "That's why I treasure the Byakugan."

Meanwhile, Naruto was being healed by Sakura, who was still angry at him for calling her "Mr." Typical Naruto; whenever he's asleep or even hazy, he doesn't know who he's talking to, resulting in calling her names.

Naruto was feeling better. He could feel the wound closing and the poison retreating. However, something bothered him. With his eyes closed, he heard distant voices. He knew one was Ryu's, but who's was the other? She sounded quiet, yet strong at the same time. He tried to remember the image of her before he temporarily dozed off: midnight blue hair, lavender, and pale yet still beautiful skin, like a porcelain doll. She seemed very familiar, but also unfamiliar. Who did he know who has skin like that? The lavender was obviously the clothes . . . it was a jacket. He knows someone who has that light purple jacket. And the same person has the same colored hair. Was it her?

"You hurt him, I won't forgive you for that!"

The voice seemed soft enough. But why would Hinata say something like that? Was Neji here too? Or Kiba?

"Calm down, child. If you're talking about that blond idiot over there, it was his fault. I never wanted a fight, but he just went up to me and declared war!"

"Why would he do that?" Sakura wove her question into the conversation between the collector and the collectee.

"Oh, something about who gets the girl," Ryu waved his hand to indicate something like "Details, details."

"Who gets the girl?"

"He's talking about me," Hinata answered for Ryu. "They're fighting over me."

"Um . . . if Ino were her she'd say that that's totally gross. That guy over there"-she, for a moment, moved her hand and pointed at Ryu then back to the healing position-"is too old for you." (**Imagine Hinata and Ryu with a sweat drop**)

"No that's not what he-"

"Enough of this!" Ryu exploded. He turned to Hinata and said, "You, girl, are coming with me! If you don't want your friends to get hurt, I suggest you stop this and just give in."

However, Hinata shook her head confidently. "No. I'm tired of being hit, kidnapped, betrayed, and lied to! I'm tired of being used! I don't want to be displayed for your collection! I don't want to be an item!"

As she said that, her hands glowed blue. The concentrated chakra grew, making her hair fly due to its tremendous power. The chakra morphed into two lion heads, one on each hand. All six eyes (two lions, one Hinata) were filled with rage. When they were complete, Hinata dashed forward with impressive speed. She was suddenly in front of Ryu, whose eyes were wide with shock. His pupil moved slightly as he saw one fist heading towards his face. He dodged just in time, but his ear was grazed.

Ryu jumped away from the girl, but Hinata was not done. She tried again, each punch faster than the last. Ryu dodged all of them, but he knew he wouldn't last long. He has never faced an opponent like this before. He couldn't think now, because all of his concentration were on where the punches would land next. It seemed all punches were aimed for his head, so he only thought about his head, and only focused on that part of his body. That was his downfall.

Hinata noticed it, so she decided to aim for something else, all the while keeping him busy dodging her hands. She punched one more time with her left, and then slammed her right fist into Ryu's chest with all her might. "Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists!"

Ryu didn't see that coming.

The force of her punch sent him flying to the trees behind him.

The sound of the crash sent Naruto bolting up. Sakura was surprised also, the first being Hinata's new jutsu, and the second was Naruto's jolt. She asked him what was wrong. Naruto didn't respond right away but instead looked for where the sound came from.

"There was . . . something . . . " he said, dizzy. When Sakura was about to gently force him back down so she could heal him, she saw that the scratch on Naruto's arm had already disappeared.

_That was quick,_ she thought (**Sakura knows that he has the fox, right? Sorry, I haven't read or watched _all _of Naruto**)

Soon, Naruto found the same girl with the lavender clothes and the black-blue hair. She was kneeling on the ground. With great effort, and a bit of help from Sakura, he stood up.

After her finishing move, Hinata had fallen to the earth. The jutsu had taken even more of her chakra. She was very nearly drained. She was near to dying. She was panting even harder; her chest hurt with every breath she took in; her eyelids grew heavy from the tiredness. Altogether, in her present state, she was weak. She was on her knees, but soon on her hands, too, and then finally she dropped completely. The last thing she remembered before falling off to unconsciousness was being turned onto her back and seeing two silliouhettes looking down on her, one of them being Naruto.

* * *

"Hinata, Hinata!" Naruto tried to wake up the Hyuga girl, but to no success.

"Naruto, stop," Sakura put a hand gently on his shoulder to try and calm him down. She could see tears crawling down his cheeks as he desperately tried to shake the girl back to consciousness. Sakura put her head down over Hinata's heart. She could still hear beating, but it was faint. The girl had overused her chakra. It might take hours for her system to fully recover. By the time Sakura lifted her head again, Naruto was gone.

He was off looking for Ryu. He followed the smoking trees trail that would have to lead towards him.

He heard a groan - a quiet groan. It was up ahead, just a few more paces. Quickly, Naruto ran towards it, and there he found Ryu laying on top of a fallen tree. He was a mess: his nose and mouth were bloody, and his teeth, too; the fabric he was wearing was torn on his chest, revealing a red burn where the chakra had entered through. All over him were scratches and wounds of all sizes. Hinata's new jutsu had really done a number on him.

Too bad Naruto didn't care. He took the collar of Ryu's robe and picked him up with ease all the way until their nose were close to each other. "What did you do to Hinata?" he asked in a cold voice.

"N-nothing . . . she did it!" Ryu whimpered. It had been a long time since he'd gotten damaged like this. He had forgotten how much it hurt.

"Naruto come quick!" Sakura's cry echoed through the forest. Without letting go, he dragged the old man back to the field where they first started in.

* * *

Ryu was leaning on a tree, asleep. Naruto and Sakura were crowding over Hinata, Naruto holding her hand. She was awake again.

"Are-you-sure-you're-okay-Hinata-you-don't-need-anything-water-food-I-can-get-you-anything!" Naruto was talking fast, worried sick about his friend.

Hinata chuckled. "Yes, I'm fine, just extremely tired."

Naruto didn't breath a sigh of relief but still looked at Hinata with sad eyes. He knows what it's like to have chakra drained almost all the way to empty, and it hurts. Every second feels like your last.

Hinata, who seemed to have read his mind, said, "Naruto, I've had my chakra depleting to near none before. Remember the Chunin Exams?" Sadly, the blonde ninja remembered that sad event.

A sudden bloody cough came from Ryu. Naruto didn't even want to look at him, but Sakura rushed over to his side. Earlier, Sakura had suggested to heal him just a little bit, seeing as he was in so much pain. Naruto disagreed and they had a long argument until they heard Hinata cough. After checking her over, Sakura went back to the other patient. All she did was heal the burn slightly, and then he fell asleep. As soon as she heard that cough and saw blood spitting out from him, she quickly walked over to him.

"What's wrong?" she asked, not wanting to sound concerned.

After another fit of coughs, Ryu smiled. Even his slightly opened eyes seemed to be smiling. "My time has come," he whispered with a rough voice. "I saw it in my dreams." He breathed deeply, wanting to smell the Earth air once more before he truly left. "I may not have completed my collection, but I did get to see the Byakugan in action. What's more it was even put against me. The eye saw my weakness. It was good to finally know how it works." With one final deep breath, Ryu settled down back on the tree. He closed his eyes, but he was still smiling. He grew limp, but the smile still remained. Sakura couldn't help but shed one small tear for him.

Even Hinata, who heard every word even though they were just whispers, started to cry. She didn't mean to kill the old man, but just to hurt him hard enough so he'd go back to the Leaf Village with them. Suddenly, she felt something wet on her hand. Since she, too, was leaning on a tree, she could see a small tear drop from the face of Naruto. Another one was about to drop, dangling from his chin.

Naruto didn't want to cry for the old man. He didn't want to feel bad for him because it was his fault all the events just now had happened. But he did. He felt guilty. It was _his_ fault that the man died. _He _had challenged him to a fight. If he didn't, kept his cool, and just talked to him or put some punches here and there, he could have understood and let Hinata return with them. But instead he threw him into the forest for an unwanted battle.

The field where the Naruto and Ryu were fighting in was suddenly doused in light, but the three ninjas didn't seem to notice. Everything was peaceful and quiet; not one of them wanted to break the tranquility.

* * *

"Akamaru, you okay boy?" Kiba asked his dog companion. They were both breathing heavily, the whole time trying to defeat the giant slug-like slime that was made by Jug.

Jug had been watching them with fake pity, an evil smile on his lips every time they were hit. But suddenly he grew weak. It was like the air was just taken out right from his lungs. He gasped for breath, but couldn't. His monster had started decreasing its size. What was wrong? What was happening? This torture was like the one described by Master when he once told them that he will not live forever. Could it be that Master was . . . dead?

Kiba had the same questions. What was going on?

Soon, the black slug monster stopped miniaturizing. It was just standing there, frozen, its size still a little below the trees. It let out an ear-splitting screech before it exploded.

* * *

"Okay, now!" Shino let his bugs flow out from his jacket sleeves to swarm the wind-surrounded Kiro. It was like he had turned into a crazy tornado, for the winds were slashing wildly about. Shino had abandoned his plan earlier. He found out that after making a jutsu, Kiro has to recover for at least ten seconds before he can conjure up the winds again. But now that he's the jutsu himself, he doesn't need to recover.

The bugs flew over to their owner's desired target. Some were killed in the process of getting near the target, but most were able to hang on to the body.

Kiro saw the swarm of insects coming his way. _Oh, no. Not again!_he thought furiously as he gathered a powerful wind ball in one hand. "You're going down bugs!" he shouted this time. When he thrust his hand towards the army, the wind ball had disappeared. "Wha-?" He felt the winds leaving his body, exposing his thin body again. He dropped to his hand and knees, not believing what was happening right now. His powers were disappearing, which could only mean one thing: Master was dead.

The beetles continued to cover him, but it didn't matter to Kiro. He had no more meaning in life.

Shino walked over to the now empty spot of grass that was once occupied by the thin man that controlled the wind. In the distance, he thought he heard an explosion.

"My bugs, I told you to stop him, not eat him," he said with his still stoic face as his insects dispersed from the spot and crawled back to the safety of their home.

* * *

"I-I did it," Gloo mumbled to himself. "I can control this body!"

Slowly, Gloo backed away from the sleeping figure of Hanabi and at the same time putting away the kunai knife.

"Gloo, you did it!" the goo looked to his master, who was cheering him. _Cheering_him! With a huge smile crossing on his mouth, Gloo ran towards him. Unexpectedly, Gloo hugged Neji, but what was more unexpected was that Neji hugged him back. To Tenten, it was wierd seeing two guys hugging each other.

Soon, Gloo had them free of the sticky substance that stopped Neji and Tenten from rescuing Hanabi. But that was a blessing in disguise as stopping them helped Gloo control himself. When they were free, Tenten hugged Neji's pet too. When she leaned back from the hug to get a good look of his face, she said, "Y'know, you don't look that bad."

"Tenten," Neji said. The said girl looked at him with teasing eyes.

"Okay, okay. It's not like I was going to kiss him or anything," she giggled. That comment received a blush from Neji. He hid it by picking up Hanabi.

A pang of pain suddenly shot through Gloo's entire new body. He clutched his stomach, but he soon fell to his knees. Like Jug and Kiro, he knew what this was.

"Gloo!" Neji and Tenten cried as they rushed over to his side. Neji had to gently put Hanabi back down.

"What's going on?" Neji worried.

"It's my old master's master," he grunted through the pain. "He's dead."

* * *

**Please Review!**

**Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists. That was in chapter 437 where Hinata confessed.  
The timeline here is that Hinata hasn't confessed yet, so I put this jutsu like one of those normally used jutsus. Like "Rasengan" or "Fang Over Fang."**

**A question for you guys: should Gloo "disappear" or not?  
Alive: Neji will be happy, he'll have a pet. I'll be happy, I might use him in future FanFics.  
Consequence: he can't keep the body, so he won't be able to talk.**

**Dead: Neji will be sad, but he'll never forget him. I will be okay, because . . . I understand.  
Good Thing: (I'm so selfish) I won't have to find a way for him to stay alive.**

**Keep those things in mind as you tell me what you want to do with Gloo. I really don't care. I just want to make sure all the readers are happy.  
This is NOT a poll. You have to review to tell me.  
But it would be good if you do vote on the poll that I have on my info, if you haven't already.**


	18. What's Left

**Okay, I got some reviews . . . and it seems most of you (including me) would like to keep Gloo!  
As you wish!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; not even Gloo! Neji owns him! o_0**

* * *

Chapter 18: What's Left

Gloo dropped to the ground and started a fit of coughs. He could feel himself grow weaker and weaker.

"Gloo! Gloo!" Neji cried. He was patting his back, trying to ease the pain for him, even if he knew it wouldn't work. His pet was coughing up black blood, which was actually still goo. Tenten was next to Neji, who was trying to comfort _him_. She could see small tears forming on the bottom of his eyes, which was very surprising because Neji rarely cries.

"Master, I . . . want to thank you . . . you know, for being nice to me," Gloo managed to say. A smile was forming on his lips as he felt the feeling in his stomach that would mean the end of him. He had lived a very short, but happy life.

To the sound of weeping and coughing, Hanabi woke up. She was lying on the ground for some reason when she clearly remembered laying down on a tree. "Gloo! No! Hang on!" Hanabi turned to the familiar yet unfamiliar sound. She knew that deep voice well, but she never heard it in a tone like that. It was one of great sadness. It was weird.

She saw Neji crouching next to someone and Tenten crouching next to him. Not surprsing, but what was surprising, besides Neji crying, was that Neji was crying to the enemy! She recognized the young teenage boy with the sandy-colored hair wearing the black ninja-like clothes without a mask. Ninja, as in one of those silly American movies she once observed. She scrambled up and scurried over to her older cousin.

"Neji, what do you think you're doing?" she said harshly to him. Neji continued to comfort Gloo, but Tenten noticed the girl.

"Hanabi, it looks like our enemy, is Neji's friend!" she said with a "he couldn't tell us that earlier" smile. This fact was too confusing for the young Hyuga to grasp.

"What? We've been fighting him the whole time!" she exclaimed. "Well, what's happening to him now?"

"He seems to be . . . dying." Tenten whispered the last part out so her cute friend wouldn't hear. Hanabi started to smile and was about to exclaim proudly that they've won, but Tenten shook her head. "That's not a good thing, according to Neji."

The smile disappeared and was replaced with an exasperated sigh. "Do you have time to explain?"

Tenten found it hard to see the girl act so tough when earlier, her sleeping figure was about to be stabbed in the heart. She gave her a hurried explanation, "I'll give you a brief summary: this guy used to be this slime ball that followed Neji around. Then he seemed to have found a body but couldn't control it and instead starting attacking us. Now he's muttering something about his 'master's master' dying so he's dying too. Now Neji's sad because he loves the slime ball that followed him around."

Hanabi tried to take this all in. "So . . . if this story is true, then can't this 'slime ball' just jump off the body? He was okay not having a body, and when he did have one, it caused problems."

Gloo heard this suggestion. The girl who looked like his master (whom he now knows is Neji because a lot of people call him that) could be right. He might still live if he doesn't connect with the body. This Ryu figure was lying with his stomach on the ground, so he can just exit from the neck there. He closed his eyes, feeling the last moments of his life wandering in his head, and tried to disconnect. He could feel himself morph and turn small. He didn't feel heavy like he did when he had the body. He didn't feel big and tall, but back to being small and seemingly a weakling. It was when he heard a small surprised cry that he opened his eyes.

"Augh!" Tenten exclaimed. "Neji, something's wrong with your friend!" Hanabi peeked over her cousin's shoulder and saw a small black glob sitting on the ground.

Neji, who was not weeping as much as earlier and was just sobbing, replied, "I know Tenten, he's gone. You don't have to make a comment." His eyes were closed and his face was hidden so nobody could see the state he was in.

"No, look!"

"I . . . don't want to see him . . . lifeless."

"He doesn't seem very lifeless to me," Hanabi commented.

Neji's eyes snapped open and turned back to his once-enemy. They were right: Ryu's head was gone turning into the black slime, but Gloo's same substance figure was back. Neji quickly wiped away his tears and stared happily at his faithful black jelly-dog. Gloo stared back at him.

"Grrroooollb!"

Oops. Now that he doesn't have a body, he can't speak either. His master noticed this, but he didn't seem to mind. However, before they could fully recover and celebrate, Kiba and Akamaru came bounding into the scene.

"There you guys are!" he said with a slight tiredness in his voice. He was scratched up everywhere; his thin jacket was a mess, there were twigs and leaves in his hair, and Akamaru had the same features as his master. "You need to come back with us! Hinata's found something!"

* * *

After arguing for a while, Sakura and Naruto had finally come to a decision: they were going to bring Ryu to the room where his throne sat and continue the discussion from there.

"Burying takes too much time, Sakura!"

"It's the least we could do for him!"

"What are you talking about? Did you even know the guy?"

"Well . . . um . . . no, but-"

"He was the bad guy! In case you forgot he _kidnapped _Hinata!"

"Well-well-_you_ killed him!"

"Now what are you saying! I never killed him! I was poisoned! Hinata-"

Naruto didn't want to finish that sentence. He doesn't want to blame Hinata. He doesn't want to blame her for anything.

"Um, I kind of agree on burying him," Hinata spoke up. The two looked at her. She was leaning on a tree after her amazingly fast recovery, though she still doesn't have the strength to stand on her own.

"I don't get you girls! Why? I didn't expect hearing that from you, Hinata, since you were the one abducted!" Naruto exclaimed.

"He wasn't really all that bad . . ." she murmured.

"Hinata . . . what? What do you mean?"

"I . . . don't know. I don't why but I just feel sorry for him."

"Here, why don't we just bring his body over to that stone room we were once in? And then we'll talk more of this there," suggested Sakura.

In an awkward silence, Naruto and Hinata nodded in agreement.

Along the way, the three ninjas met with Kiba and Shino, who were both in a messy condition.

"What happened to you guys?" Naruto asked darkly. He wasn't really in a good mood because he was picked to carry the enemy to the temple.

"That Jug was actually pretty strong," Kiba said as the ninjas darted through the forest.

"My opponent, too," agreed Shino.

"So, uh, where are we going?" Kiba asked.

"Back to that dark room," Naruto answered. Even though he wasn't in the mood, he still wanted to be the one to talk.

"Where's Neji?" Kiba questioned again.

"Maybe he and the others are already there."

This was the first time Kiba noticed that Sakura was here. Shino had already noticed, but he didn't say anything. "Sakura, when were you here?"

"Me, Tenten, and Hanabi are your backup team," she answered.

"Oh . . ." was all he said. He was mentally checking if everything was all right, making sure all his systems were functioning, especially his nose. With his nose, and eyes, he should have spotted Sakura immidiately.

Finally, they reached the now crumbled rectangle room where all the fights started. But something was missing, something big. The throne was still there, but what wasn't?

"The mountain," Shino started. "It's gone." The others looked around, and it seemed Shino was right. The mountain _was_ gone!

"Wha-where did it go?" Naruto dropped the corpse on the ground and went to look. "A whole mountain can't just disappear!"

Angrily, Sakura, with the help of Hinata, picked up the dead body Naruto dropped. Kiba asked why they had him, and the girls replied in unison that it was a long story. So he shrugged his shoulder and offered to carry it, which the girls gladly took. They carried him inside his empty stone room and laid him on the floor. "Now what?" Kiba grunted. Ryu was heavier than he thought.

"NARUTO GET OVER HERE!" Sakura shouted to him. The blonde ninja quickly dropped in from the roof through the hole that was supposed to be the light for the room.

"WHAT?" he shouted back. And they started their argument.

Tired, and still not fully recovered, Hinata walked away from all the noise to the throne. She hated when people fight, and she would always get a headache from all the shouting. To keep her mind off of the two, she closed her eyes and tried to remember the last few days, which was bad, but was good enough.

She remembered waking up to see her kidnappers . . . who were arguing. She remembered being punched and blacking out. She remembered waking up to see that she was high in the air. She remembered kicking Jug between his legs, dropping her. She remembered their . . . arguing . . . voices as she fell through the sky; landing on the leaves she argued with herself which way to go; she woke up to meet Ryu; she stayed with him for a while, and he even made her clothes; on their second meeting, Jug and Kiro were arguing again; she was unconscious again and woke up in a dark place; she heard the older Ryu's plans about her; she saw Naruto and his team rescuing her, but they were arguing if it was really her or not.; there was when Ryu and Naruto were arguing who she will go to . . .

Hinata stopped thinking. Even through all of her memories, there were still arguments in there. That was frustrating. She fled to the back of the throne, hoping to not get noticed. It was there that she remembered there was something about this dark side of the room. Something was hiding in the shadows of the darkness. Something mysterious. She turned back to her friends. "Kiba!" she called. Like a dog, the Inuzuka snapped to atttention at his name, and the others turned their heads also. "I need you to find Neji and the others; tell him I've found something and need help investigating it!" Without asking any questions, Kiba nodded and left with his dog.

Sakura, though had one thing to ask. "Hinata, you're not thinking to use your Byakugan are you?" she worried.

"I'm going to find out what's over there," the Hyuga answered, pointing to the back of the room, past the throne.

"But you can't! Using your Byakugan means using chakra!" the ninja medic exclaimed. "You're still low on chakra and if you use any more, you might lose all and . . . You just can't!"

"Sakura," Hinata started calmly. "I never said I'd use it."

The ninja widened her eyes. "But I though you said you wanted to find out-"

"Well, that's what I need Neji for."

* * *

"Use my Byakugan? Why can't you just create a hole for light like in the other room?" Neji asked. He had stopped his celebration of Gloo's return for this?

"No! We might mess something up!" Hinata cried. "I don't want to ruin anything."

Seeing the pleading eyes of his younger cousin, Neji sighed and decided to give up. He heard the story of her fight with Ryu and how she used the Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists. That jutsu could damage even the strongest of men, but it takes up a lot of chakra, so it shouldn't be used when you're low of it. She knew that.

"Fine." He turned to face the dark room ahead of him. "Byakugan!" The veins on the sides of his eyes bulged as he scanned the room, his eyes widening.

Meanwhile, while all the others were with Neji, Kiba found Hinata's Ryu-made clothes neatly folded and stacked behind the throne, placed on top of one of the platforms. There was something about the flowers that were sewn into her silk shirt that made him be suspicious. Before he could inform her, though, Neji called Kiba over. The obedient teenage walked over to him, Akamaru trailing closely behind.

"Do you smell . . . dead people?" he asked quietly, like he was . . . scared.

Kiba and Akamaru sniffed around. "Yeah," he said in the same soft voice.

"That's what I thought. Quickly, we need to find a way to flood this room with light," he commanded.

They all then started for the roof, forgetting everything about the mountain.

* * *

**Please Review!**

**Unlike the flowers, the mountain has no significant meaning; I just wanted to put that in.  
For some reason, I can't bring myself to hate Ryu! I made him the enemy, but I can't hate him!  
I think it's because I always hate when old people die. It's so sad!**

**Oh my gosh! We're already nearing the end! However, I've planned something . . .**


	19. The Look In Glass

**You know, I put too many mysteries in this story.  
I can't go in depth with NaruHina.  
And I want to finish this already so I can start the sequel!!  
. . . Oops . . .****  
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto; he's too strong; he owned me.**

* * *

Chapter 19: The Look-In Glass

"Fang Over Fang!" A sharp gray swirling vortex of doom started spinning towards the roof of the rectangular room, which was beneath him. He crushed the somewhat soft rock carefully, for Hinata still didn't want anything damaged.

While Kiba and Akamaru were doing that, Neji, Shino, and Naruto were inside the room underneath the hole making sure that he didn't accidentally hit something. Sakura, Hinata, Tenten, Hanabi, and Gloo were watching them from the sidelines. "Hmph, boys!" Sakura scoffed. Tenten nodded in anger.

After a few more minutes, the hole was complete. The pieces of crumbled rock were quickly moved away by Shino's bugs. The room was now in light, the sun's rays gliding across the floor. Kiba looked up at the sky. They had to finish this investigation if they wanted to arrive at Konoha in time. The sun was already setting, even though it was still a little early for sunset.

"Kiba, come down!" Neji's voice echoed to him. He patted Akamaru's head before they both headed down.

There were glass cases embedded all along the walls. Neji estimated that there was about 20 in here. Each glass contained a perfectly preserved body inside standing upright. Their faces were expressionless, their eyes were closed and their mouths were set in a straight line. They looked pale and seemed old, yet none of them had aged a day.

"H-how can they be this preserved?" Sakura asked, growing pale herself from seeing so many dead bodies.

"They must be frozen," Neji said as he walked up to one of the glass cases, Gloo closely behind. There was a man inside with his face free from any growing facial hair that would have started already if he were still alive. Neji looked down and saw a sign attached to the glass case. "Shikotsumyaku," Neji read aloud.

"What?" Naruto ran up to where Neji stood to see the man. Neji asked what was wrong. "Th-that's Kimimaro's kekkei genkai."

_So it's true, _Hinata thought to herself. _He was collecting them_.

"Hey check this one out," Kiba called to his teammates. "Wood Style, isn't that Captain Yamato's kekkei genkai?" There was another man with dark brown hair and manly features. He must have been really handsome when he was alive.

"Naruto, there is an ice style," Shino said. Naruto remembered battling someone with ice style on his first mission. He chuckled as he remembered that he first thought Haku as a girl.

"There's lots in this place!" Tenten whistled. "Like this one: it says Rinnegan. What's that?"

"No clue," Naruto said and went to search out more. (**You can tell this was set before the Pain battle**)

"Naruto, I found Sharingan!" Sakura sqealed happily. Inside she saw a handsome Uchiha with the same raven black hair as Sasuke's. "I think all Uchihas are supposed to be cute!"

"Look, Neji, a Mangekyo Sharingan," Hanabi pulled on her much older cousin's sleeves. "But I bet it's no match for the Byakugan!"

"Right, Hanabi!" Neji patted his cousin's head. When she walked away to find more people, Neji's dark features came back on. Where was the case for the Byakugan? Gloo looked up at his master's frowning face. He wanted to comfort him, but he seemed deep in thought, so he said nothing.

"Where are the women who uses Kekkei Genkai?" Tenten asked impatiently. She's looked through almost all of them and there wasn't one woman that she could find.

"Um, I think I would be the only one," Hinata gulped. She was standing near the throne where the end of the collection was. She looked paler than usual and was sweating, though not a lot. Her teammates walked over to where she was. They had found a glass case like all the others entitled "Byakugan."

"They've already got the case ready!" Kiba said. Naruto was angry; if he had come late, Hinata would have been in there, frozen like the rest of these life sized porcelain dolls. That was another reason why he was confused about Hinata still wanting Ryu to have a peaceful burial.

"Well, Hinata," Neji stretched. "Now you know what's in this room. Maybe it's time to go?"

"But wait what do we do with these bodies?" Hinata argued.

"When we get back to Konoha, we'll tell them about this. They'll send ninjas to investigate right away."

"But it takes two days to get from here to Konoha, and when we finally tell them, the ninjas will get here in another two days. They'll be in here for four days!"

"Hinata, they've been preserved for over ten years; I think they can wait for another four days."

Her cousin had a point. Without seeing anymore points to argue, they headed towards the other room where Ryu's body lay. Which brought up another issue: what were they going to do with it? However, Naruto already had an idea after seeing so many of the bodies in the glass case. "We'll just put him in the spot where the Byakugan was!" His teammates looked at him like he was crazy. "What?"

Because they were all tired, they didn't deny the idea; Shino's bugs and Gloo helped take the glass off. Kiba and Naruto were carrying the now stinky body into the hollow wall as Neji directed them. The girls again had nothing to do. "I can't believe them!" Sakura shook her head. Before they could put the glass back on they had another problem: how could they keep him upright? None of them had the ice style, so none of them could freeze anything.

"How could this Ryu guy get them to freeze, then?" Kiba scratched his head.

"Maybe he studied the ice style kekkei genkai," Shino suggested.

Naruto clapped his hands once. "Well, since we can't make him stand, we'll just have him leaning." He grinned devilishly. "He could lean against the glass so his face is pressing up to it!"

Sakura bonked Naruto's head painfully. "You idiot! When you die you want to be put in a glass case only to get humiliated?!"

"Oow, Sakura!" Naruto didn't know why he ever had a crush on this girl. She was nothing like the sweet, gentle, caring young woman whom he was now falling for.

This problem gave Tenten an idea. She finally had something that would help. "I could make him stand upright!" She took two kunai knifes out of her pack. She walked over to the boys who were holding Ryu and commanded them to hold so he was standing straight. Kiba and Naruto obeyed her order. She then took the knifes and pinned them onto Ryu's shoulder sleeves. When she let go, however, he still slipped down into an awkward bent position. Naruto started to laugh, but Sakura slapped him again. Tenten thought for a while and then took out her scroll. Her scroll was magnificent, as it has never really gotten a scratch when she's in battle. She summoned a double scythe chain. She swung the chain around the body; it went around and around until she was satisfied. She then took the two blades and pinned them way above so Ryu would stand.

"Excellent idea, Tenten!" Neji cried, but he blushed as soon as he blurted it out. Tenten just giggled. To make himself busy, he ordered for Shino and Gloo to put the glass cover back in place.

"Okay, we're done," Hanabi sighed. "Now can we please get some rest?"

----

They were back at the place where Neji, Naruto, Kiba and Akamaru, and Shino first camped in: underneath the tree where the branches intertwined and the leaves laid on top. Hinata was surprised they found this place. When they've put up the tents, made a fire, eaten, and were now gathered around the campfire, Hinata told them her story of what happened after she was whisked away on the wind platform. After that, Neji told them how he had met Gloo. They were having good laugs. Soon, though, one by one they grew very tired, so they decided to sleep. Hanabi was the first to go to her tent. Next came Kiba and Akamaru. After was Shino, then Neji, then Tenten, and finally Sakura. The only two left were Naruto and Hinata. They were sitting on the same log, facing away from the fireplace and tent and looking past the tops of the trees into the starry night sky. The fire was already doused, so they were under the light of the moon.

"Um, that was brave of you. You know, escaping those two goons and all," Naruto said nervously, hoping to start a conversation. They were sitting close to each other, but not too close. His was leaning on his hands that were behind him, but his right hand pointed towards Hinata.

"Thanks," Hinata smiled. She was holding her right knee up as her support for balance. Naruto, from the side, saw Hinata's smile. He thought it was pretty, and if he thought it was pretty from the side, he wondered what it would look like when it faced him. He soon got his answer because Hinata turned to him. "But in truth I was really scared."

Hinata was surprised that when she turned she was met with Naruto's beautiful blue eyes. She expected him to be looking up as well. She got lost in his eyes as she continued to stare. Naruto was, too, mesmerized by Hinata's eyes. He never noticed how cute they were. Sure they were white and all, but the moon shining from above gave it a tint of lavender color that matched her outfit perfectly. They were like two shiny pearls. His eyes wandered down to her lips. Besides the accident with Sasuke, he's never had a kiss from someone before. A small blush formed on his cheeks as he thought about how soft it looked.

Hinata was the first to break out of the trance. "Ah! I-I'm sorry!" she cried. She had let go of her knee and put her hands up near her chin as a force of habit. She looked like a scared rabbit, a scared cute rabbit. So he was disappointed when she turned away. Embarrassed, Hinata stood up to go. Not wanting her to leave, Naruto took her arm and made her sit again. Stunned, the Hyuga turned back to him again with a scared look. What stunned her even more was how close his face was. She had to lean back so they wouldn't be too close, with her left hand still near up her chin. Her face turned bright red.

When he saw how close Hinata's face was up to him, Naruto blushed himself. After five seconds, which seemed like an hour, he scrambled backwards. "Uh, sorry!" he apologized. He could see Hinata was trembling, but miraculously, she didn't faint. Also, she was already recovering from the shock. She breathed deeply and slowly. Hinata was having a moment with Naruto, she didn't want to ruin it with her shyness. As she tried to be calm, she remembered about being tied up with the goo inside the room. When her friends had found her, they didn't believe she was the real one, so she had to think of something to say. She was taking more breaths if she was going to continue.

Naruto watched her remain calm. When they were young, she was always panicky. He didn't understand why he hadn't noticed how cute she was. Maybe it was because he was blinded by love for a different girl, one that would never love him back. After watching her carefully for the past days, he'd noticed she had grown up. He also took a deep breath as he decided it was time to tell her what he thought of her. He feared she might reject him, like with Sakura, but he had to say it. When he opened his mouth, they both had started to talk.

"Naruto do you remember--" "Hinata I have something--"

They stopped. "D-did you want to say something?" Naruto nervously asked. Hinata was equally embarrassed, but she nodded. "Um, me too."

"You can go first," Hinata said quickly. What he'll say might be more important than a silly confession. However, Naruto shook his head.

"No, you go first." Hinata was about to argue when Naruto stopped her. He insisted. What she'll say might be more important than a silly confession.

Hinata really didn't want to go first, but she continued. "D-do you remember when I was about to say something, back at the temple?"

Naruto nodded. "Yeah, it was going to determine wether you were the real Hinata or not." Hinata nodded also.

"Well, I was going to say . . . um . . . I wanted to tell you . . . uh . . . I-I . . . I lo--"

"You love me?!" Naruto suddenly cried. A small "eep" came from Hinata. How did he know? Then he started laughing. On the inside, though, he was berating himself for making such a stupid joke. "I'm kidding, Hinata, go on."

But the Hyuga didn't know how to go on. Naruto had just finished her sentence. He even noticed how she wasn't talking. "You . . . you love me?" he asked more seriously this time. Tears in her eyes, Hinata nodded. "Hey, wait a minute! Why are you crying?!" He scooted closer to her, wiping away the falling tears. "You think I'm going to reject you? No way! 'Cause I love you too!"

Hinata's salt-teared eyes widened. What did he just say? "C'mon Hinata, stop crying now!" He was desperately wiping all her tears away, but the tears weren't of embarrassment, now. It was for happiness. Naruto said he loved her too! Unable to hold back, she happily pulled him into a hug. She was sobbing onto his jacket now, but she hoped he wouldn't mind.

Of course Naruto wouldn't mind. He was actually completely glad that she had let go of her shyness. He started patting and rubbing her back. "Let it all out, Hinata," he whispered.

They were probably in that postition for over fifteen minutes, rubbing and sobbing. When they finally parted, Hinata's eyes were partially red, but she was okay. The tears were gone and she was smiling shyly. Naruto chuckled. "Done?" The Hyuga nodded. Then Naruto frowned. Hinata turned scared. "Hey, you haven't cleared all your tears, yet." He pointed at her lips. "There's still something there. I'll get it for you!"

The female Byakugan user was searching her lips for any wet stuff by hand, not realizing what Naruto really meant. It was too late though, because as soon as she took her hands off, shook her head, and was about to tell the boy in front of her that she found nothing, Naruto leaned forward and gently kissed her soft lips. Surprised, she nearly fainted. However, she fought consciousness. Instead, she slowly closed her eyes as she kissed him back.

It was their first kiss ever, and they shared it under the moon and stars.

* * *

**Please Review!**

**I've always wanted to do a NaruHina scene under the moonlight!  
Sorry if it wasn't very romantic.  
I write better stories when it's just about adventure; no romance scenes, and no fighting scenes.  
Those are my two worst subjects, so my fics will mostly be about adventure, or humor.**


	20. A Successful Mission

**WOW! It's the last chapter, you guys!  
I feel sad, yet proud at the same time! I'm actually finishing my first chapter fic ever!  
Stay until the end because there'll be a special notice at the bottom!  
Disclaimer: For the 21st time, I don't own Naruto!**

**By the way, I would like to thank these people for giving me very positive reviews! They gave me the strenght to go on!**

**Rose Tiger - the first person to ever review, and has reviewed every chapter! I thank you; you were sometimes an inspiration and sometimes also gave me ideas of the next chapter!**

**draco122- you were always reviewing every single chapter, and each one that I read always made me smile! Thank you ever so much!**

**XxWishDreamerXx- did you change your pen name? I thank you for the excellent feedback you've given me!**

**Hadious- even though you aren't really on fanfiction, you gave me a lot of confidence when you reviewed! By the way, continue with your "Casted Away." I'm dying to know what's up with his brother!**

**Hinakunoichi- your reviews always made me laugh! Thanks for giving me a boost!**

**I thank all the readers out there, too, even if I don't know how many there are. If you didn't get personal thanks from me up there, don't feel bad. Know that I remember you and just by reviewing you've made me a happy person!  
Now I sound like one of those people who think they're too great!  
Let's move on to the last chapter:**

* * *

Chapter 20: A Successful Mission

Where were they? They've been gone for days! How many days, though? Could it have been a week? Hiashi shook his head. He was only informed of his missing daughter just yesterday. The body guard said Hinata's been kidnapped three days ago, so add one more day and that would make this day the fourth day his daughter was not here. He sighed as he looked out of his room from the Hyuga Compound. With all three of his children (he had accepted Neji as one of his own) gone, he had no one to spar with, no one to observe, and no one to tease about a certain crush she has on a certain blond boy. Where were they?

* * *

Kiba couldn't stop thinking about those flowers, but he didn't tell anyone. What he thought those flowers were, were just a thought. He wasn't sure if those were what he feared. Before they had left the temple yesterday, he had ripped off one of the flowers and carefully put it in his backpack. He would give this example to Lady Tsunade when they return.

The eight ninjas were soaring through the forest, eager to get home. Neji and Naruto were leading the way while Shino and Kiba stayed in the back. Since the back up team were only transported here, they didn't know the way back; and Hinata was unconscious when she was being flown over the tree tops, so she didn't know either. Akamaru was as usual by Kiba's side, and Gloo was allowed to wrap himself up on Neji's waist. Hinata was behind Naruto's right.

"Hey Tenten, did you notice something about Naruto and Hinata lately?" Sakura asked the brown-haired kunoichi. Hang out with Ino and sometimes her girliness will rub off on you.

"Well, I noticed she seemed happier this morning and kept glancing at Naruto," Tenten answered. "But that really isn't a surprise."

"Why not?"

"Well, won't you seem happier when you've just been rescued from some psycho? And Hinata always looks at Naruto."

Sakura shook her head, but she was still smiling. "Anything else?" Tenten thought for a moment.

"Naruto also glances at Hinata, and when he does his eyes shine."

"And does Naruto normally do that?"

"No . . . Do you think something happened last night?"

"I wouldn't be surprised!" The girls squealed, which was so unlike Tenten.

"What's going on?" Hanabi interrupted. Being a girl, she wanted to be in this "girly" conversation. The two older girls looked at each other.

"Hanabi," Sakura started, "do you know about your big sister's crush?" Hanabi nodded.

Sakura and Tenten weren't the only ones who noticed the change of attitude between Naruto and Hinata. Shino had noticed as soon as they woke up. Naruto had happily greeted a good morning to Hinata, but he forgot to greet the rest. He wasn't surprised when he saw Hinata blush every time she looked Naruto's way, but what was more surprising was Naruto blushed every time _he_ looked _her_ way. He knew there must be something causing this.

He jumped over to Kiba. "Something's going on between Naruto and Hinata."

Kiba did a fake gasp. "Shino! Are you gossipping?"

The bug-user was annoyed but he continued. "Do you think they did something last night while we were asleep?"

"Obviously, or they wouldn't be making googly eyes at each other." Kiba chuckled.

"Do you think Neji noticed?"

"Dude, the guy is a _Byakugan_ user! If he hasn't noticed by now he's a pitiful excuse for a Hyuga."

"What do you think his reaction will be?"

Kiba grinned slyly as he thought of the answer. "He might have a word or two for him."

"Don't forget about Hinata's father." Under the hood, Shino was also secretly smiling at the idea.

Kiba beamed. "Oh, I can't wait 'til we get home!"

Of course Neji had noticed. The two were unusually closer to each other that morning. However, he didn't say anything. He was waiting until they got back to Konoha, where Hiashi would deal with him.

* * *

"We're baaaaaaaack!" Naruto shouted as he slammed the door of the Hokage's open. Tsunade, as usual, was looking out of her big window behind her desk. She had seen the ninjas entering through the front gate. Seeing Naruto again gave her mixed feelings. She was glad he had come home, but his sudden outburst in her room reminded her of all the other loud times. She was suddenly missing the peaceful times again.

"Naruto, welcome back," Tsunade greeted. "Your happy face tells me that your mission was a success."

"It sure was, Gramma!" Naruto put his arms behind his head like he always does when he's successfully completed a mission.

"Well?" Tsunade sat back down on her chair. Naruto's smile disappeared.

"Well what?"

"Where is she?"

"Oh! Right here!" Naruto had just realized that he was blocking the door. Behind him, Sakura was about to punch him out of the way. Her arm was already extended back. When he had moved, though, she quickly dropped her arm, embarrassed. The others were to the sides of her, keeping their distance. Tsunade immediately noticed the light purple jacket.

"Hinata! You're back!"

At the call of her name, Hinata peeked in to the Hokage office. Lady Tsunade hadn't really called her name like that before. "Um, hi," she said shyly.

"Wow, there's a lot of people out here!" a voice called out from the hall. The seven ninjas outside turned to see Shizune and Tonton coming their way. Shizune saw that the mission was a success as she saw Hinata. Next to her was Shikamaru and Temari.

"What's all this?" Temari asked. She didn't get Konoha ninjas.

Shikamaru saw the whole gang of Team 8. Good; he didn't have to look for them, then.

"Will all of you get in here?" Tsunade screamed from the other room. She was tired of seeing them all just stand there outside her door. The people quickly walked in. Her office was crowded with people. "Can the ninjas from the mission stay in here? The rest of you get out!" Shizune, Shikamaru, and Temari all scrambled for the door. When they left, only nine were in the room. Tsunade sighed; much better. "Now Neji, tell me about your mission. You are the leader. I know it was a success, otherwise you wouldn't have come back here, but I need the details."

"Very well, Lady Tsunade," Neji bowed.

And he told the story.

* * *

Shikamaru was waiting outside the Hokage tower for Team 8. There was a surprise waiting. He knew about their mission, and he thought that this will cheer them up. It's why he couldn't go on the back up team; he had business here. Temari had left, so he was alone. He found that these days he was feeling lonely whenever she wasn't around. Finally, he smiled when he saw them exit. Naruto was with them, but he thought he should come anyway.

"There you are," he walked over to them. "Kurenai is waiting over at the hospital!"

* * *

Seeing Kurenai's new baby girl was such a pleasant surprise. It happened the day after Hinata's abduction.

Now Hinata was being walked home by Naruto. Neji and Hanabi had already gone home. It was late in the afternoon, so the sun was shining warmly, as if it was smiling down on them. They were walking in silence, mostly because Hinata was thinking about her sensei's baby, and Naruto was afraid of going to the compound. Hinata sensed this and tried to cheer him up.

"Naruto, my father doesn't have to know right away," she said. "Besides, it was just a kiss. It's not like we did something."

"Something?" Naruto swallowed and started sweating more. If he did "something" with Hinata he was sure he'd be dead.

"Yeah, it's not like we were dating for months and never told him," she said again, oblivious to what Naruto was thinking. He was sweating a lot more, but she thought it was just from the sun.

Dating. That gave Naruto an idea. "Hey, Hinata," he turned his head to her. He was calm enough to ask this question. "I was wondering if you would like to go on a d-"

"Hinata!" Hiashi cried. He had been waiting at the compound door for his daughter's arrival. When he saw Neji and Hanabi, he thought they had failed the mission, but they smiled and said that she would be home soon. Twenty minutes later, she was here, but to him it seemed like twenty hours. He hugged her tightly, tears in his eyes.

"Father!" Hinata hugged back. He had never really hugged her like this before. She remembered being hugged tightly when she was little, but that was it.

Naruto smiled at the father-daughter moment. It made him wonder how a mother-son moment would feel like. But when Hinata let go and looked at him, smiling, he knew he didn't have to know, because Hinata would hug him just like a mother he never had.

"You're dating?" Hiashi asked.

Naruto and Hinata were surprised to hear him so calm. At the very least he should be screaming.

It was night outside. There was a big celebration of Hinata's return. Hinata told her whole Hyuga family what had happened during the four days she was kidnapped. During the story-telling, Hanabi had told her father that she now knew who the person who told the body guards to have a day off was. Hiashi was surprised to hear the description, but he didn't bother to look into it. He had already got a glimpse of what it was from Neji. After the party, Naruto was allowed to stay, because he and Hinata had one more thing to tell. The family wanted to know, but they were shooed away by Neji. Hinata, Naruto, and Hiashi were left alone in a room with a tray of tea. Naruto let out a breath he'd been holding and started.

"Congratulations." Hiashi put down the tea he was sipping. The couple in front of him dropped their mouths. Did he just say "congratulations?"

Then, Hiashi narrowed his eyes. "However . . . Naruto Uzumaki I need to talk to you. Hinata, you should sleep. You need a rest from what your story tell sme." Naruto gulped again. He knew it was too good to be let that easy. He sadly watched Hinata stand up and slowly walk out the door. On her way out, she turned around and mouthed the words "Sorry. Good night." Naruto smiled and mouthed the words "You too."

As soon as she slid the door closed, Hiashi began his speech. "Naruto, I have ten simple rules for dating my daughter."

* * *

The next day, everyone was doing their ordinary things.

Hanabi was training with her father, Hiashi constantly telling her on things to improve.

Naruto had asked Hinata out on a date, which she happily accepted. They were at Ichiraku's; Naruto was desperately trying to remember all the rules Hiashi told him.

Team Guy was in the woods, also training. Neji had introduced Gloo to Guy and Lee, who were extremely interested in him.

Shino went with Shikamaru to check up on Kurenai's baby. There, they met Sakura, who was also excited about the newborn.

Only Kiba wasn't as cheery as everybody else. He, along with Akamaru, went to the Hokage tower. Tsunade was surprised to see them.

"Kiba, what are you doing here?" she asked. She was also a little relieved, because she could take her mind off the paperwork teetering on her desk.

"Uh, Neji forgot to mention this, but the guy we fought, he has a whole bunch of dead people at his place," Kiba said. "They're people with kekkei genkais."

"I'll have ninjas check on that right away."

"Um, the last one that says Byakugan, it's Ryu. You should take him too."

Tsunade nodded at this information. "Kiba, you look distracted. Something tells me you didn't come here just to tell me that."

Kiba shook his head. "I also wanted to show this to you. Do you know what it is?"

And he handed her the flower that was sewn into Hinata's old forest clothes.

* * *

**Please Review!**

**With a cliff hanger like this, there must be another chapter, right?  
WRONG! This next issue is a whole 'nother story!  
Which is why I'm making a sequel! If you checked the poll, it looks like my next story is about Hinata losing her memory.  
Instead of making it separate, I put it in with this one. I sounds like a sequel, right?  
Now guess what those flowers do ;)**

**The ten rules I mentioned above, I got the idea from an author's profile: Shawny Wong.  
I hope she doesn't mind. The rules are in her story "Ten Decisive Moments" (if you don't want to read the whole thing, it's in ch. 8 at the bottom...but you should read the whole thing.)  
****They're called "Ten Simple Rules for Dating My Daughter by Hyuuga Hiashi"  
You should check it out; it's funny!**

**OH MY GOSH! This was the last chapter of _Gone_!  
Well, since I've finished a story, I think I deserve a break.  
I won't be writing the next one until maybe after two weeks.  
Possibly after a month!**

**Anyway, I hope to see you all again when it comes!  
Bye!**


	21. Gone Note

**Hello, Readers!**

**If you are reading this, it means you are still subscribed to this story! Yay! Or you were going to un-subscribe but then saw this. Or you just forgot to un-subscribe.  
Anyway, I'm not here to congratulate you (sorry) but I am here to tell you that _Gone_'s sequel is coming up! It may be tomorrow, or in the next month. But it is coming! This message was just to ensure you that there's still going to be a sequel. I haven't trashed the idea, so don't worry. Some of you may have seen that I did upload a chapter one of the sequel but then deleted the story. Haha sorry about that. It didn't sound right and I felt I wasn't ready. However, rest assured that I am working on it!  
My promise was that I would take a month or so of a break and then work on the sequel. Yeah, I got these new ideas and I just _had_ to get them on paper! Or, er, get them typed.  
So sorry about that. But, um, look out for that sequel!**

**-XoStarcicleoX**


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